$5M in stolen cars recovered; 5 Mississauga, Brampton residents among 8 charged

Three Mississauga residents and two people from Brampton are among eight suspects facing more than 100 charges in a joint-forces police operation that targeted violent car thieves who allegedly pulled off both home invasions and carjackings in Peel and across the GTA.

Police said at a press conference Tuesday morning in Toronto that 23 stolen vehicles worth about $5 million have been recovered in the sweeping probe that began in March and was dubbed Project Titanium.

The majority of charges laid are for robbery and firearms offences related to auto thefts carried out via violent home invasions, carjackings and other “non-violent auto thefts,” police said.

Search warrants executed on June 18 and 19 at four locations in Peel and Toronto in addition to six vehicles led to the arrests and the seizure of a number of items, according to Toronto Police and OPP, who co-led the large-scale investigation.

In addition to stolen cars, other items recovered include:

• a loaded handgun and ammunition
• about $2,000 in Canadian cash
• manual break-in and electronic auto theft tools
• fraudulent photo ID
• stolen vehicle parts

OPP Det.-Insp. Scott Wade said the alleged network of car crooks is responsible for more than 100 incidents, many of them violent, that include 21 armed home invasions, store robberies, break-and-enters, vehicle thefts and three carjackings.

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“What is alarming about this investigation is that the vehicle thefts were not simply carried out in the middle of the night on an unoccupied target vehicle,” he added. “Many of the thefts involved violence, some with forceful entry into homes with demands that the owners hand over the keys to their vehicles. This investigation involved armed robberies posing a significant risk to public safety.

“We will not allow (these individuals) to continue instilling fear in our citizens, wondering if their homes will be entered late at night.”

OPP Det.-Insp. Scott Wade.

Eight people face a total of 103 charges in the wake of the police investigation that was spearheaded by OPP and Toronto Police with the help of Peel Regional Police and police forces in Halton, Durham and York among others.

Specifically, the Provincial Carjacking Joint Task Force, co-led by OPP and Toronto Police and formed last year to fight the growing crime of car thefts across the GTA, led the investigation.

Four of the accused were remanded into custody and two were released and will appear in Brampton court on later dates. Two others are being sought on arrest warrants, police said.

One of the accused, Schuyler Holloway, 22, of Mississauga, faces 45 charges in connection with the investigation.

Others charged are:

• Jahmoi-Derrick Williams, 19, of Mississauga (11 charges)
• Alexis Holloway, 56, of Mississauga (six charges)
• Teroy Warner, 19, of Brampton (three charges, sought on arrest warrant)
• Prince Abu Yeboah, 23, of Brampton (one charge)
• Michael Ackley, 20, of Toronto (16 charges)
• Jahiem James, 22, of Brantford (10 charges, sought on arrest warrant)
• Treyvaun Gomez, 21, of no fixed address (11 charges)

OPP Deputy Commissioner Marty Kearns said car crime is a “complex issue” that puts people’s lives at risk.

“But one thing is simple,” he added. “Our communities deserve to feel safe when they lay their heads down at night. It is the right of every Ontarian to feel at ease in their home, in their communities and to feel protected by law enforcement.”

To date, the Provincial Carjacking Joint Task Force, which also includes members of Peel police, has made 124 arrests, laid 749 charges, recovered 177 vehicles and seized eight firearms between last September and this past March, police said.