Five relatives charged in $2.3M armoured car heist

 View larger image

A Garda armoured truck was robbed in February.

Five relatives charged in $2.3M armoured car heist

Updated: Mon May. 04 2009 8:09:40 PM CTV.ca News Staff

Five relatives from Ontario and Quebec have been arrested in connection a $2.3-million armoured car heist that police are calling an inside job -- the spoils of which had the accused allegely living the high life for five months.

York Regional Police accuse the suspects of spending the allegedly ill-gotten money on fast cars, expensive liquor and exotic vacations. One of the hot cars included a Ferrari.

"They purchased premium wine worth more than $100 a bottle, and expensive liquor worth more than $2,000 a bottle," York Police Chief Armand LaBarge told a news conference in Richmond Hill, Ont. on Monday.

The suspects include two 59-year-old twin brothers from Quebec; a pair of brothers in their mid-20s; and a 26-year-old cousin from Toronto. Police say the cousin worked as a guard for the armoured car company.

The heist happened late on a Thursday night in February, when an armoured car was parked outside an RBC Royal Bank in Richmond Hill, Ont., about 40 kilometres north of downtown Toronto.

Two armed guards left the vehicle to go inside the bank and make a deposit to the automated teller machines.

When they came back out, the back doors of the armoured car were open and the money was gone.

Police were left to find out how so much money vanished in a few minutes. They quickly suspected the thieves had to have inside knowledge about the workings of the armoured car business.

A $100,000 reward was offered for information and police began working with provincial police in Quebec and Garda Armoured Car Services to crack the case.

On Monday morning, police announced that they had made five arrests in the case.

La Barge told reporters how police believe it all went down.

"As the guards went about their business inside the bank, collecting cash and replenishing the ATM machines, thieves attacked the vehicle," he said Monday.

"Using information previously supplied by a Garda employee, the suspects were able to gain entry to the armoured truck and they removed approximately $2.3 million before fleeing the scene."

Since the arrests, police say they have reclaimed about $600,000 in cash that was taken in the heist. They have also seized a Lamborghini, a Mercedes and three boats.

"The accused were living extravagant lifestyles, filled with fine food, vacations, nightly entertainment, the purchase of high-end vehicles, jewelry and liquor," La Barge said.

"A portion of the stolen money was used to fund lavish vacations in the Bahamas, in Spain and in the Dominican Republic, for some of the accused."

Police claim the suspects were also seen spending big money on booze at Montreal bars, including individual shots of liquor worth more than $250 and once racked up a single night's bar tab of $3,500.

Marcel Grignon, 59, faces six criminal charges in connection with the alleged robbery, including theft over $5,000, conspiracy to commit robbery and laundering proceeds of crime.

His two sons, 24-year-old Anthony Grignon and 26-year-old Lawrence Stark-Grignon, face five and two criminal charges, respectively. Both brothers are charged with theft over $5,000 and conspiracy to commit theft over $5,000.

Marcel Grignon's twin brother Normand faces a single charge of conspiracy to commit robbery.

Toronto resident Christopher Reinards, who was identified as a cousin in the Quebec-based Grignon family, faces five criminal charges including theft over $5,000, conspiracy to commit theft over $5,000 and laundering proceeds of crime.

Const. Marina Orlovski told ctvtoronto.ca in an e-mail that the suspects are currently in police custody and are expected to appear in court on Tuesday for a bail hearing.

With a report from CTV's Jim Junkin

If you have any questions or comments about this story click here. If you have information to add click here. To contribute your own photos or videos click here.

Click