Barrie car dealership general manager charged with mischief

Mischief charges for Nissan general manager The General Manager of a Barrie car dealership is facing charges for allegedly vandalising the vehicles of another dealership.

The general manager of Barrie Nissan is facing charges of mischief after allegedly vandalising vehicles at another dealership in Orillia.

“I can’t really speculate on what was going through Doug’s mind, on why he decided we were a target for him,” says Krista Kemp, principal owner and general manager of Experience Nissan in Orillia.

Police arrested 59-year-old Douglas Ross and charged him with three counts of mischief for damaging multiple new vehicles in the Commerce Road lot.

“You don’t do something like that by accident, that’s a specific intent, and that’s why the mischief charges were laid,” OPP Constable Martin Hill says.

Kemp has run the car dealership for more than 16 years and says she was shocked when the first incident of vandalism happened back in November.

After another incident happened again in the same month, surveillance cameras were installed around the building, and a month later, they paid off, capturing the alleged crime in action.

“Why?  I just don’t understand why,” says Kemp, who says there’s no reason for this type of behaviour.

Kemp describes her previous working relationship with Ross as friendly.

“I went to Mexico on a Nissan plant meeting and sat beside him the entire day and talked to him, and I never would have thought this of this person,” she says.

Nissan Canada tells CTV News that while they can’t comment on the investigation, they did confirm that “the dealership employee in question has been suspended.”

Kemp says she's ready to see the entire situation in the rear-view mirror, saying the incidents of vandalism have cost her tens of thousands of dollars.

None of the allegations have been proven in court.