What sick fucks.
Police arrest suspect in alleged theft from dying woman Five similar cases reported in Ontario medical centres as 'visitors' ransack patient rooms March 19, 2010 By SARAH BOESVELD AND TIMOTHY APPLEBY
The scheme is simple and sinister - walk into a busy hospital during visiting hours and ransack the rooms of patients who are too sick or indisposed to notice.
As a grieving family reels over the robbery of their elderly mother in a palliative care unit before her death Tuesday evening, Toronto police have arrested one man and issued a warrant for another they believe may be targeting a handful of hospitals in the area.
Along with Toronto East General Hospital, where the two suspects entered the dying woman's hospital room and stole $7,000 worth of jewellery, other area hospitals reported similar trespasser thefts in the past six weeks.
Detectives in nearby York and Peel regions are investigating at least five cases, including one report of a woman robbed while she was giving birth in Brampton Civic Hospital.
Police say these suspects specifically target palliative and neonatal units, places often crowded with family and with lots of coming and going.
After releasing surveillance photos of the two suspects strolling the halls of Toronto East General, police arrested Isaac Lewkowicz, 29, of Toronto late Wednesday night.
He faces six charges, including theft over and under $5,000, possession of heroin and marijuana and four counts of failure to comply with probation. He appeared in a Toronto court yesterday.
A note on the Facebook profile for a Toronto man with the same name says that he's been in trouble before but he's become a better person in the past two months by going back to school. The new Isaac, he says, "is here to stay for good."
Police also issued a warrant for the arrest of the second suspect, Marcos Marinoni, 26, who is wanted for conspiracy to commit a crime and theft charges. Mr. Marinoni also has a criminal past, having pleaded guilty to causing a disturbance by swearing as he was kicked out of a Wasaga Beach nightclub in 2008.
Family members had been at the bedside of the ailing woman the night of the theft, said Detective Constable Nora Blackmore, and had just ducked out to get a coffee when the intruders entered.
The woman lay unconscious as they rummaged through her belongings and emptied jewellery from two tins and a small purse she'd stashed near her bed.
Family returned to find the room disorderly and the jewellery missing, Det. Constable Blackmore said. By the time police arrived at 8:45 p.m., the woman, who was in her 70s, had died.
With the help of 235 closed-circuit cameras, hospital security tracked the thieves as they entered the hospital at 7:45 p.m. and moved from ward to ward before they chanced upon their victim, police said.
The woman had her jewellery with her because her home had been broken into during her last hospital stay, police said.
Rocky Prosser, manager of protection services at the hospital, says patients are encouraged to leave their valuables at home. If they choose not to, the hospital will lock them up in a safe onsite.
