Two men plead guilty in West Island burglary case

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Two men, including a former minor league soccer coach, pleaded guilty Monday to breaking into an apartment complex in Dollard-des-Ormeaux that, two days later, became the scene of a shooting with police in Montreal.

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“This was not done professionally. We are not dealing with professionals here, ”defense attorney Alan Guttman said as he tried to convince Quebec court judge Erick Vanchestein to accept the joint recommendation that his client, Jerome France, 27, be sentenced to a total prison sentence of three years.

France and Andrew Charles Hopkins, 28, pleaded guilty to burglary and conspiracy to do the same. On February 11, they and a third man named Kenneth Klare, 46, attempted to enter an apartment on Davignon Street that was under police surveillance.

Hopkins’ attorney, Claude Rouleau, also asked the judge to accept the joint recommendation. He noted that Hopkins has no prior convictions and was once a member of the Concordia University football team, the Stingers. He also noted that Hopkins used to coach the Westpark Steelers, a mosquito soccer team in Dollard-des-Ormeaux.

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“During the pandemic, he was taking classes to become a security guard,” Rouleau said. “He realizes that with a criminal record, that’s not going to happen.”

Prosecutor Hussein Hassan told Vanchestein that the three men were completely unaware that the apartment was under police surveillance.

Hassan said the apartment was the residence of James Inniss Carr, a man who would later be arrested in Ontario as part of “an unrelated investigation.” Hassan said Klare wore a fluorescent vest that made him look like a construction worker, while Hopkins wore the uniform of a FedEx driver and carried a FedEx envelope.

When the three men arrived at the building shortly after 11 a.m. M., Hopkins pressed the buttons on the intercom, pretending to be a courier delivering a letter, but no one called him. At the same time, Hassan said, Klare tried to force open the lobby door with a tool.

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A video camera placed in the lobby recorded when the trio apparently gave up and left, but returned minutes later. Hopkins called another apartment and convinced a tenant that he was making a delivery and they called him.

The three men then approached the door of Carr’s apartment, Hassan said.

“Mr. Hopkins knocked on the door, and at the same time Mr. France and Mr. Klare stood on either side of the same door at angles that would make it impossible for the person inside to see them through the ( peephole), “Hassan said.” During this time, Mr. Klare was holding a gun in his right hand. Mr. France and Mr. Hopkins were unaware that Mr. Klare was holding a gun. They had never seen the gun before. “.

Carr didn’t open the door and the three men left, Hassan said. Police investigators who had the apartment under surveillance waited until they got into a vehicle parked outside. Police followed the vehicle as it drove away, but stopped it as it returned to the same building, the prosecutor said. The three men were arrested, as was Mark Croney, 28, of Dollard-des-Ormeaux, who was driving the vehicle. A 9mm pistol was found in the trunk.

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In June, Klare pleaded guilty to the charges brought against him and is scheduled to be sentenced next year. Croney has pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against him and his case is still pending.

According to a statement issued by Montreal police in February, Carr had “attracted attention by posting videos on social media in possession of firearms and large sums of money.”

Two days after the men were arrested, someone called 911 to report that someone else broke into the same apartment. In that case, the police intervention did not end peacefully as shots were fired when the police arrived.

Two men, Patrick Beaudin, 41, and Teshy Jones, 19, face a long series of charges related to what happened on February 13, including the attempted murder of two police officers.

Vanchestein will decide later this week whether he agrees with the joint recommendation that France and Hopkins be sentenced to three years in prison.

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