Pokemon cards, pot and $200K in stolen golf carts: How Canadian police solved a crime ring
Police in the province of Ontario hope they have cracked a case that baffled golf course operators throughout the region.
Starting in 2021, several courses started noticing golf carts turning up missing, often in significant numbers.
According to a story from the CBC, over 250 golf carts went missing in that timespan from more than 20 different golf courses.
But a raid in October in the small town of Gwillimbury, about 40 miles north of Toronto, and another in the town of Georgina, which is even further north, led to a massive discovery, according to Detective Greg Chalmers of the York Regional Police.
In these searches, they found what they describe as a large quantity of stolen property, including 18 golf carts worth almost $200,000, rare Pokemon and Magic: The Gathering trading cards worth $100,000 and more than two kilograms of cannabis.
Chalmers told CBC News police found the golf carts on a farm property in the area, taken there by an enclosed flatbed trailer. They linked the accused to at least six separate cart thefts.
“You have something stolen, you feel really violated,” said Rob Brandon, general manager of Pheasant Run Golf Course in Sharon, Ont., just northeast of Newmarket, Ont.
How were the carts found? Well, it’s not surprising, but GPS trackers on the carts were used in the recovery.
Unfortunately, since only a small portion of the carts were recovered, it’s unlikely the rest will ever be found.
Since just 18 carts were recovered, golf courses who didn’t get their property back suspect they’ve already been sold.
“I would say our cars are long gone,” said Rob Davis, sales manager with Turf Care Products, a golf cart distributor to about a third of all the courses in Ontario.
“I’m hoping … this is the end of it.”
Eight of Davis’s carts were stolen in March from his warehouse in Keswick, Ont., about 70 km north of Toronto.
In June, he told CBC News there is a thriving black market for the vehicles as prices skyrocketed during the pandemic, with many uses for them, including trailer parks, cottages and farms.
Before the pandemic, his carts sold for about $6,000 each. They now cost at least $10,000.
“Somebody has to be very organized and understand the marketplace and know where to sell that many cars at once,” he said.
