The Stratford Police Service has charged four people and rounded up some of the stolen items from a smash and grab a few weeks ago. In the early hours of the morning of May 23, security video captured two masked suspects breaking through the front door of Sinvention Boutique and clearing shelves — making off with approximately $8,000 worth of high-end leather gear, cash and adult accessories. “It was perhaps maybe a little bit more interesting subject matter than [police] may be used to dealing with, so I think there’s a lot of enthusiasm to get closure for us,” Sinvention co-owner Julie Bell told CTV News. The incident left the owners of the small business rattled. But less than a week later, police made a major breakthrough in the case. “It was maybe three or four days for us to be able to identify [the suspects] just from the video and audio that we received from the business,” said Mark Taylor, a spokesperson for Stratford Police. Soon after, officers showed up with a search warrant at a Stratford property and charged four people: a man in his 20s, a man in his 30s, a man in his 40s and a woman in her 40s. “We were aware of the individuals prior to, which assisted us in making those arrests,” explained Taylor. “The two that broke into the business were charged with break and entering and the two that were arrested during the search warrant were charged with possession of stolen property and I also believe controlled substance charges.” “We really didn’t expect much from the investigation,” said Bell. “I was glad to hear there would be a couple of people held accountable.” It’s a win that both police and business owners don’t see very often. Investigators said it’s rare to recover stolen goods this quickly and in this quantity. “I think that those items can be moved very quickly to a secondary market but because of the work of our officers, we were able to track them down before they were able to get to the secondary market,” said Taylor. “A lot of the items that would be geared for female self-pleasure have not been recovered,” said Bell. “Some of the larger boxed items probably were just harder for them to move. So those seem to be the majority of what we received. We’re grateful for just even having any of the merchandise back. Some of it, of course, is not recyclable but it’s just nice to know that some things were recovered.” Police credited the shop’s high-quality surveillance footage as a key piece in helping make the bust. “I think with businesses now having that video and audio footage and for them to get it to us quickly, we were able to identify the individuals quicker now,” said Taylor. The boutique’s owners said they’ve since upgraded their security, adding more alarms and more cameras, hoping to deter any future break-ins. “Just anything else that we can add on to give us a sense of security and hopefully we will not have a need to test it to this degree again,” said Bell. For now, there’s a sense of relief and a focus on the future. “Shaking off the stress and then just really trying to get back to the mainstay of our business,” said Bell. “We are very, very busy and we really need to focus on satisfying our clients in that department.” Police said they’re still working to track down and recover the other half of the stolen property and their investigation is ongoing.
