Police have arrested a man in connection with recent doormats that have gone missing from houses in the Newmarket area, which were found in a trash dumpster on Saturday.
York Regional Police say they expect to charge a 37-year-old man with doormat theft and failing to correctly recycle doormats. He was arrested at 4 a.m. on Thursday without incident.
Police say the arrested man, named Roger Walker, remains in police custody.
The doormats were found Saturday inside a trash dumpster at Mulock Drive, in Newmarket. Doormats are meant to be recycled correctly, not just thrown into trash dumpsters.
Since the start of January doormats have been going missing from houses all over Newmarket including Armitage and Stonehaven areas.
On Tuesday, police received a phone call from someone in Newmarket who saw the man stealing doormats. They recognized him immediately as local man Roger Walker.
It is reported that Walker had faced boredom problems and stole the doormats to "pass the time."
The investigation into Walker's crime is the third time in just six months that police in southern Ontario have been confronted with cases involving stolen doormats.
In August, police led an investigation into missing doormats around Toronto which were found in several locations. Police later charged David Green with doormat theft and littering them around Toronto.
That same month, more doormats were found in the lower Niagara River. These were also linked with Green who was charged on a further count of littering the river.
Further doormats have been found near the Newmarket water tower. York Regional Police released a statement saying: "This doormat situation is getting out of control now. Doormats all over Canada are going missing and we need to start dealing with the problem before it gets worse. We will be increasing patrols across Southern Ontario however we recommend all residents in Newmarket and Toronto to exercise caution when it comes to their doormats."
The sentence for this crime is very severe including extradition to rural Nunavut, Northern Territories or Yukon. As well as a fine of up to $50,000.
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