String of vandalism on New Sudbury businesses

A number of businesses in New Sudbury have been victimized by random acts of vandalism in the past year and the owners are looking for answers.

Thousands of dollars of damage have been done to businesses in the Lasalle, Barrydowne and Falconbridge areas. Among the stores hit repeatedly McQueen's Furniture, New Sudbury Volkswagon, Car Lot Etc., and that's only a handful.

The target has been windows of the businesses and in the case of Sudbury Volkswagon, some vehicles were damaged as well.

The first incident at McQueen's Furniture occurred last February when a number of the storefront windows were broken by what owner Paul McQueen believes to be slingshots, with projectiles fired from one or more vehicles driving by on Barrydowne Road.

“Last February, we had three panes of glass broken that needed to be replaced, then a month later another one was broken,” said McQueen.

“There was another one broken in October then right before Christmas we had five windows broken all in one incident.”

Each window pane at McQueen's store costs $1,700 to replace, and with 10 windows total broken to date, Paul has racked up a bill of $17,000 to fix the broken windows.

McQueen has found rocks and metal nuts scattered about on the ground in front of the windows, leading him to believe the damage was done with a slingshot and not a gun.

“If someone was firing a gun at the store it would have punched through both panes because the storefront is double-pane glass,” said McQueen.

“In every instance, it's just the outside windows that are broken and I've found nuts (from bolts) lying around outside.”

Marc Paquette is the president at New Sudbury Volkswagon on Lasalle Boulevard. His business has been hit by similar acts of vandalism, with the most recent incident happening last October.

“We've had our showroom windows broken, as well as the rear windows of some of the vehicles on the lot,” said Paquette.

“In total it's cost about $12,000. It's just very frustrating that this kind of thing happens, I don't know who is doing it and I don't understand what the kick is for whoever is doing this.”

Both business owners have contacted Greater Sudbury Police Service, but McQueen's store did not have an outdoor security system to spot anything, leaving a cold trail.

“The police came in here and asked if I had security cameras facing the street, but I don't so I guess there wasn't much they can do except try to keep an eye on the area,” said McQueen.

“I'm going to be installing cameras to watch the street, but that's going to cost me another $10,000 to put in a new security system. It's a shame to have to go through all of this.”

If anyone has witnessed any acts of vandalism on businesses in New Sudbury or elsewhere, you can contact the Greater Sudbury Police Service at 705-675-9171, or if you wish to remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222- 8477 (TIPS).