ManitobaA 40-year-old Winnipeg man has been charged with a string of retail thefts across a nine-month span this year, during which more than $25,000 worth of items were stolen.Snowblowers, pressure washers, tools, food stolen over 9 monthsCBC News · Posted: Dec 03, 2025 1:36 PM EST | Last Updated: 3 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 3 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Three Home Depot stores in Winnipeg were hit in 12 of 19 thefts between March 18 and Dec. 1. (Google Street View)A 40-year-old Winnipeg man has been charged with a string of retail thefts across a nine-month span this year, during which more than $25,000 worth of items were stolen.According to Winnipeg police Const. Claude Chancy, the accused is “a career criminal.””This is not his first foray into this type of crime,” he said. “He’s very well known to police and a little bit of a thorn in our side, to be honest.”The thefts started in mid-March, when food was stolen from the Safeway grocery store at Osborne Street and Kylemore Avenue, in the south Osborne area. There were four thefts at the store, with about $1,650 worth of food taken by mid-May, a police news release said.The store that suffered the most losses — and most expensive — was Home Depot on Empress Street, in the Polo Park area, where more than $13,000 in tools and machinery was stolen, according to a list from police.While police did not identify any stores by name, Home Depot employees confirmed to CBC News their business was one of those targeted.The man is accused of walking out with four snowblowers during visits to the store on Nov. 24 and 25, two each day.Chancy said the man would leave through the garden centres, where there are fewer staff members or other security measures. He’d then load them up in a vehicle and leave, according to Chancy.”They’re definitely larger-ticket items. You can’t stick them in the backpack and just walk down the street or get onto a bus. So yeah, he would have had some kind of transportation,” Chancy said. The other items are more generically listed by police as merchandise and tools, stolen on July 18, Oct. 3 and six different days from Oct. 29 to Dec. 1.Also hit were the Home Depot on Leila Avenue (Garden City area) on Oct. 28, which lost two pressure washers valued at almost $2,000, and the Home Depot on Abinojii Mikanah Boulevard (St. Vital area) on Oct. 20, which lost $1,500 worth of goods.The Abinojii Mikanah Home Depot was also targeted on May 29 ($1,116 worth of items taken) and the Leila Home Depot on Aug. 7 ($2,422 worth of items taken).Items valued at $3,100 were taken from two stores in the shopping district near Kenaston and McGillivray boulevards in mid-June, police said.The man was arrested Dec. 1 in the city’s Centennial neighbourhood and charged with theft. He also had five warrants out for his arrest, some related to other thefts and some for court breaches.Police recovered $5,355 worth of stolen goods and have no idea where the rest went, said Chancy.”In general [with stolen goods], we know it’s not hoarded and stuck in one spot … for their own purpose,” he said.”They’re usually turned over and sold to make a profit to support whatever it is financially that they need, or even substance abuse, to support a habit.”
Man arrested for allegedly stealing more than $25K worth of goods from Winnipeg stores
