A serial thief who eluded police for months last summer while on a break-and-enter spree that impacted dozens of Cambridge businesses reached a plea deal in a Kitchener courtroom earlier this month.
Adam Taplin, who was 33 at the time of his arrest, was sentenced June 11 to 106 days in prison in addition to time already served. He will also get 18 months of probation upon release. Some of the charges he faced were dropped.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of the Attorney General's office said Taplin spent 108 days in jail prior to sentencing with time credited at 162 days.
Taplin was wanted on a warrant for 39 commercial break-and-enters in Cambridge between June 26 and July 31 of last year.
The ongoing situation prompted police to issue a warning to auto shop operators to take extra precautions in the wake of the targeted break-ins.
He was eventually arrested in early August and charged with 21 counts of break and enter to commit, 16 counts of break and enter with intent, two counts of attempted break and enter, possession of break and enter tools, and assaulting a peace officer.
Majestic Automotive owner Scott Bennett called the man seen on surveillance video during a break-in at his shop, "a cockroach" after the thief kicked one of the doors behind the repair bays and crawled into the office with a flashlight where he found a small amount of cash in a locked drawer.
Bennett said during his initial call to police they asked him if the suspect in the video was crawling on all fours, "like a cockroach."
"I said yeah. 'Well,' she said, 'I know who it is.'"
After police appealed to the public for tips on Taplin's whereabouts a second time, director of communications for Waterloo regional police Cherri Greeno told CambridgeToday it's rare for police to release a photo identifying a suspect, proving detectives were exhausting all avenues in their search for the suspect.
"We are taking the investigation extremely seriously," she said in response to criticism that petty crimes don't get the attention they deserve.
It was that and other thefts that motivated Peter Simpson, the owner of Combined Auto and Truck Repair on Pinebush Road, to demand Cambridge council advocate to all levels of government for changes to catch and release laws.
That appeal led council to vote unanimously in favour of a motion from Coun. Adam Cooper that called on city staff to write a letter to the province asking for criminal code reform and greater emphasis on speeding up the court process.
"Something needs to change, because you're seeing the same thing over and over," Simpson told CambridgeToday. "Someone will break in, get arrested and then be back out on the street the next day doing the same thing."
