Montreal break-in suspect served prison time for break-ins in U.K., Germany

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A 57-year-old West Island resident currently facing more than 20 charges related to a series of break-ins in Montreal and Westmount has served time behind bars before, in England and Germany, for other burglaries and made headlines in the United Kingdom because he hid stolen loot inside his toilet.

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According to a statement by the Montreal police on Friday, Gheorghita Onisei, a resident of Dollard-des-Ormeaux, was arrested on Aug. 14 as “a suspect allegedly involved in approximately 20 break-ins and thefts committed primarily inside residences in Westmount and the surrounding area.”

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The Montreal police said Onisei was arrested during a break-in in Westmount while he was still inside a home on Grosvenor Ave. Over the course of a few days at the Montreal courthouse, during which he was represented by Montreal defence attorney Michael Morena, he was charged with 21 counts related to break-ins carried out between April and August. Some of the break-ins occurred at Westmount addresses on Melrose, Victoria and Lansdowne Aves.

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In most of the cases Onisei is now charged with, the suspect broke into residences while the occupants were inside.

He is currently detained and is scheduled to have a hearing later this week to potentially set a future date for a bail hearing.

While he has no criminal record in Quebec, he has served significant sentences in England and Germany for break-ins in those countries.

According to Surrey Livea U.K.-based news website, on Dec. 12, 2014, Onisei received a four-year prison term after he pleaded guilty to five break-ins carried out between 2011 and 2014, including two in London. In 2014, he was arrested as he was about to carry out a break-in after police officers on patrol recognized him from a wanted poster that had been released as part of a project seeking the most wanted burglars in a part of England.

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Surrey Live reported in 2014 that Onisei was linked to the four other break-ins through his fingerprints and his DNA. He admitted he stole “stole thousands of pounds of electrical goods and irreplaceable jewelry during a spree of break-ins.” In some of those cases, the occupants were home when Onisei broke in.

His lawyer in the U.K. case told the court he had carried out some of the burglaries because he was in debt from having borrowed money from a gang to pay for a funeral for his recently deceased mother.

When police in England searched Onisei’s home, some of the jewelry he stole was found hidden inside the water tank part of his toilet.

During his 2014 sentence hearing, the court was informed that Onisei previously served a six-year sentence in Germany for 13 burglaries. The judge who sentenced him questioned how Onisei, a Romanian national, was allowed into the U.K. after having served a lengthy prison term in Germany.

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