image of mischief suspect

UPDATE

Through a tip from a community member on August 14th, 2024, the Greater Sudbury Police Service received information that the man pictured below was believed to be frequenting a local establishment. Officers attended the establishment to speak with the man and were able to positively identify him as the individual responsible for the mischief to the Pride Flag painting on Minto Street. In addition, several anonymous tips submitted via Sudbury Crime Stoppers corroborated the information provided.

Through additional investigation, Detectives from our Criminal Investigations Division developed reasonable grounds to believe that they identified the person responsible for the mischief to the Pride flag painting.

On August 19th, 2024, a 59-year old man was arrested without incident at his residence and charged with Mischief contrary to the Criminal Code of Canada. He was released on an undertaking with a court date of October 30th, 2024, to answer to the charge. His name cannot be released as the information has not yet been sworn to through the court process.

It is believed that this incident was motivated by hate and/or bias. A hate/bias-motivated crime is a criminal offence against a person or property which is perceived to be motivated and/or is motivated, in whole or in part, by hate, bias, or prejudice based on the actual or perceived ancestry, race, national or ethnic origin, language, colour, religion, creed, sex, age, mental or physical disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, or any other similar factor. This includes but is not limited to violence, threats of violence, acts of mischief or vandalism, threatening phone calls and destruction of religious property or symbols.

Incidents can be deemed hate/bias-motivated crimes and this is considered during sentencing within the court process.

The Greater Sudbury Police Service is constantly looking for ways to improve its response to hate-motivated incidents. That includes raising awareness of our approach to hate crime investigations.

The Greater Sudbury Police Service has zero tolerance for hate-motivated incidents and will thoroughly investigate any filed report.

Hate has no place in our communities. We encourage residents to report any incident that is motivated by hate or bias. We appreciate your cooperation in helping to eliminate these types of incidents from our communities.

The Greater Sudbury Police Service would like to extend its gratitude to all of the community members who contacted us with information relating to this matter.

ORIGINAL

We are requesting the public’s assistance to identify the individual responsible for the mischief to the Pride flag painting on Minto Street.

At 6:00 a.m. on August 3, 2024, the individual in the attached photos was captured on video surveillance vandalizing the Pride flag painting on Minto Street by throwing a can of white paint on the flag painting.

Officers worked in collaboration with City of Greater Sudbury staff to obtain and review security video surveillance footage of the incident.

The incident has been assigned to Hate Crime Investigators in our Criminal Investigation Division and the incident is being investigated as a hate-motivated crime.

Hate or bias-motivated crimes and incidents have an impact extending far beyond the physical and emotional trauma to the individual(s) involved. Communities are also affected. These crimes often heighten the isolation and vulnerability of diverse communities and can cause undue stress for all members of the community.

We know that hate-motivated crimes and incidents are under reported and we are working hard to change that. We take reports of hate-motivated crimes and incidents very seriously and we recognize the impact and pain felt by community members when there is evidence of hatred. We want to assure the community that we are committed to investigating these situations thoroughly.

Anyone with information related to the incident or the identity of the individual in the photos is asked to contact police at 705-675-9171 or Crime Stoppers at 705-222-8477.

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