John NEAL Arrested

(MIDLAND, ON) – A shoplifting incident at Midland Foodland reported to the OPP Communication Centre by store security at approximately 7:46 a.m. March 1, 2024 was investigated promptly by an officer of the Southern Georgian Bay OPP Detachment with the suspect being identified through investigation as an individual known to police.

At 8:44 a.m. March 1, 2024 officers responded to a report of an individual attempting to enter vehicles and locked retail store doors in the Mountainview mall area. Attending officers located the individual in the parking lot near Simcoe County Road 93 who was the suspect in the previous incident. In an attempt to arrest the suspect, they failed to comply and officers resorted to a form of non-lethal force to obtain control to make the arrest.

As a result of these investigations, John NEAL, 37-year-old of Tay Township, was charged with the following criminal offences:

• Possession Property Obtained by Crime Under $5,000 – in Canada
• Possession of an identity document
• Causing a Disturbance
• Resist Peace Officer

The accused was held for a bail hearing and remains in custody to appear before the Ontario Court of Justice at a future date.

Locking your vehicle does work and officers stress that you need to remove valuables such as wallets, purses and other valuable items and lock your vehicle to help prevent these crimes of opportunity from occurring in our community. It is seems be a regular occurrence for officers to receive a report of a vehicle entry or a series of entries only to learn the vehicles were left unlocked or locked with valuables left out in plan sight causing an forced entry and theft. These types of thefts can lead to the loss of credit cards and other pieces of personal identification which can be used in fraud related occurrences.

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