The Vancouver Police Department has recommended another 52 charges to Crown counsel against 20 suspects allegedly involved in the Stanley Cup riot.
Mondays announcement by Insp. Les Yeo of the integrated riot investigation team brings the total charges to 215 against 80 suspects.
My message to the rioters who think they have gotten away with their crime spree: We are not backing off and more arrests and more charges are just around the corner, said Yeo, noting a third batch of charges will be forwarded to Crown counsel in January.
So far, Crown has approved 69 charges against 27 people, some of whom made first appearances in Vancouver provincial court last week.
Crown spokesman Neil Mackenzie said he expected the prosecution team will finish reviewing the first batch of charges sometime in January.
Theres none, at this point, that the Crown has concluded we will not approve charges on, said Mackenzie of the initial 163 charges recommended against 60 suspects.
Mackenzie said the Crown office is equipped to deal with the workload and suggested the charge assessment process could speed up as prosecutors become more familiar with the types of files.
The branch is certainly prepared to assign additional prosecutors, if we need to, to keep the files moving efficiently, he added.
The new batch of recommended charges include participating in a riot, mischief, assault and break and enter. Of the 20 suspects, 16 are men and four are women, with an average age of 19.
Six are under 18the youngest is a 15-year-old boyand the eldest is a 27-year-old woman. The names of the adults cannot be released until charges are approved while names of juveniles are protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
Four each are from Surrey and Burnaby and two each from Richmond and North Vancouver. The other eight suspects live in Vancouver, Maple Ridge, New Westminster, Prince George, Tofino, Chilliwack, Lethbridge, Alta. and Blaine, Wash.
The VPD provided reporters a fact sheet with details about what led to the arrest of three suspects. In one incident, police allege a 19-year-old Surrey man punched a Good Samaritan numerous times in the back of the head.
In another incident, a 17-year-old Surrey female punched, kicked and spat at one officer and bit another while being arrested. Police said the arrest occurred after officers told the female numerous times to avoid an area where paramedics were treating an unconscious man.
A 24-year-old man from Blaine was arrested after he allegedly broke into a store in the 700-block Granville Street and stole a number of items. Police said he was wearing a hockey jersey with his own surname emblazoned across the back.
Yeo said police will launch additional strategies in the new year to increase the volume of visitors to the VPDs riot website. Yeo wouldnt elaborate on the strategies.
We will charge as many people as we can, and I would say the majority of the charges will be in the early part of 2012, said Yeo, when asked when the VPD will conclude its investigation.
The riot erupted downtown June 15 after the Vancouver Canucks lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final to the Boston Bruins. Cars were torched and businesses looted, causing several millions of dollars in damage.
Twitter: @Howellings
