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Seven arrested in early morning police raid on Pond Shore Road

The RCMP are not releasing much information about a police operation that took place early Wednesday morning on Pond Shore Road in Sackville. At about 6am, area residents report hearing a series of loud bangs that sounded like gunshots, and saw smoke and flashing lights in the vicinity of 106 Pond Shore Road. The house now has boarded up windows.

106 Pond Shore Road was the site of an RCMP raid on Wednesday, November 22, 2023. Photo: Erica Butler

RCMP spokesperson Hans Ouellette says that seven people were arrested at the residence, and the situation did not pose a threat to the general public. Ouellette said the operation involved the RCMP’s Emergency Response Team and other “specialized policing services”, and was part of an ongoing investigation.

Oullette did not disclose the nature of the investigation or if charges were laid as a result of arrests. “We will provide more information when we are able and it is appropriate to do so,” said Ouellette via email.

The home is owned by widower Reginald Sears, whose grandson Colt LeBlanc is due to go to trial on December 4, facing charges stemming from a police operation at his Upper Aboujagane home in April 2021. LeBlanc alongside his sometimes partner Carrie is being tried on three charges: possession of stolen property under $5,000, possession of prohibited firearms, and possession of an illegal substance for the purpose of trafficking.

… Continue

Crossman found responsible for actions; seeks second opinion

A Sackville man accused of murdering and dismembering his spouse has been granted a six week adjournment in court proceedings so that he can get a second opinion on whether or not he can be held criminally responsible for his actions.

Roger Hilyard Crossman appeared by videoconference in Moncton Provincial Court on Thursday morning, in what was slated as a plea and election hearing for the two charges against the 62-year-old.

Crossman was represented by Saint Antoine lawyer Tim Dubé, who told the court that his client wanted a second opinion, in part based on a language barrier during his psychiatric assessment at the Restigouche Hospital Centre in Campbellton. Dubé asked for either a second assessment to be conducted at the Restigouche centre, or time to arrange for a private psychiatrist to evaluate Crossman.

Crown prosecutor Martine Cormier told Judge Ronald LeBlanc that the results of the original psychiatric assessment, which Leblanc had in sealed envelope, found that Crossman was responsible for his actions. The judge asked both Cormier and Dubé if the report contained any grounds to order a second assessment at the Restigouche centre. Neither could provide any.

Dubé asked the court for six weeks adjournment to allow time for a privately arranged psychiatric assessment, and also for the lawyer to receive and review disclosure from the prosecutor. Leblanc granted the adjournment and set a date for another hearing on January 8, 2024.

Leblanc suggested setting a preliminary hearing date in order to save time in the process, but both prosecution and defense lawyers suggested that wait until January 8.… Continue

Maritime Fuels customers are owed $2.5 million, had to pay bank fees to cancel payments

Longtime customers of Maritime Fuels are concerned they might be out hundreds or thousands of dollars each, after the company declared bankruptcy last week.

Dawn Richards of Bridge Street After School Academy says her business is owed at least $2000 by the defunct company that convinced her to sign a contract requiring pre-authorized bank withdrawals.

And Richards is not alone. According to documents from appointed insolvency trustees PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), former customers on pre-authorized payment plans are owed $2.5 million by the bankrupt company. The round number is likely an estimate, as PwC says it has yet to do a full reconciliation of Maritime Fuels records. It’s also just a fraction of the total debts of the company, which total nearly $44 million dollars.

Screenshot from Maritime Fuels now defunct website.

Once customers like Richards file the paperwork, they will be considered unsecured creditors. The odds of getting repaid do not look good, says Richards. “I’m not holding my breath,” says the daycare operator. “I’m sure that there are people who are probably owed a lot more than $2,000. And where’s that money going to come from?”

The largest creditor listed in the insolvency documents is Western Petroleum, a Newfoundland company owned by Ivan Cassell, the co-owner of Maritime Fuels. According to PwC’s summary, Cassell’s Maritime Fuels owes his other company, Western Petroleum, a round figure of $20 million. Western Petroleum is listed as an unsecured creditor. The Bank of Nova Scotia is owed over $17.8 million, but that debt is secured, and appears to be related to a long list of vehicle loans and mortgages.… Continue

Police look for driver of truck who left fatal collision scene in September

A still from CCTV footage of the intersection of Royal Road (route 106) and St Thomas St., distributed by the RCMP.

The South East District RCMP think a second driver and vehicle were involved in a crash that killed a 17-year-old on Route 106 in Memramcook in September, and they are asking for the public’s help to find the driver.

At around 1:20am on Friday, September 29, police and emergency crews from Sackville and Dorchester were called to the crash, which appeared to involve a single vehicle whose driver had lost control, left the road, and entered the ditch. Police say speed was a factor in the accident.

The passenger of the crashed vehicle, a 17-year-old boy from Moncton, died at the scene. There were no other reported injuries.

In a release last week, police say they have determined a second vehicle was involved in the crash, and that driver fled the scene before emergency services arrived on September 29. Police are searching for a 2019 grey or silver Chevrolet Silverado, and have released photo of the truck from CCTV footage, as well as a stock photo of the make and model.

Stock photo of 2019 Chevrolet Silverado, distributed by RCMP.

Constable Rob Driscoll of the Southeast District Crime Reduction Unit said in the RCMP release, “investigators are aware that there are witnesses who know what happened during that evening. We are asking those people to come forward with any information that they may have, so that we can bring closure to the boy’s family.”… Continue

Council roundup: budget 2024 approved, air filter project turned down, and councillor censured

Tantramar council meets for its first time ever on January 10, 2023 at Sackville town hall. Photo: Erica Butler

Budget passes, shared services calculations to be reviewed

Tantramar council passed a number of budget resolutions this week, setting capital and operating budget spending as well as tax rates for the municipality.

2024 tax rates for Tantramar, per $1000 of assessed property value

Former town of Sackville: 1.5389 (down 0.0095 from last year)
Former village of Dorchester: 1.5415 (down 0.0225 from last year)
Former Sackville LSD: 0.5625 (0.974 w/ provincial portion, up 0.05 from last year)
Former Point de Bute LSD: 0.7637 (1.1752 w/ provincial portion, up 0.05 from last year)
Former Dorchester LSD: 0.6411 (1.0526 w/ provincial portion, up 0.05 from last year)

The slew of motions also included one that commits council to reviewing how it divvies up the fiscal responsibility for some of the services that are deemed ‘shared’. As treasurer Michael Beal explained to council, when the cost of running the municipality is allocated to the different areas, the share covered by former Local Service Districts (LSDs) is calculated at 90 percent, a decision made by the provincial consultant who was hired to create Tantramar’s first budget.

“The shared service model says that as you go further from the central core services, the local service districts should pay less for some of those shared services. The 90% was chosen by the province, and we don’t know why that was chosen,” said Beal.… Continue

Council rejects ‘wait and see’ approach, adds 14th officer to an already increasing RCMP complement

Tantramar council is opting to spend another $170,000 a year in order to hire a 14th RCMP officer to help patrol the Tantramar municipality. But the move may not result in an additional working officer for quite some time, due to issues filling RCMP vacancies.

On Tuesday night, after Councillor Allison Butcher moved a staff recommendation to increase the Tantramar RCMP complement to 13 officers, Councillor Matt Estabrooks made a second motion that asked for that number to go up to 14, to bring Tantramar’s ‘cop to pop’ ratio above 1.5. The staff and RCMP recommendation would see the ratio sit slightly above 1.4.

“Personally, I’ve heard a lot about policing in the last bit in Tantramar, the last couple of years I’ve been on council. And I’m always very financially responsive. If there’s something that I’d like to spend money or extra money on, it’s policing,” said Estabrooks, after a presentation from RCMP representatives. “After doing a little bit of research on my own, certainly not as in depth as yours, I have a comfort level around the 1.5 [cop to pop] number.”

There are currently ten officers allotted to the former town of Sackville under its Municipal Police Services Agreement (MPSA), and the rest of the municipality is covered under a complement from the Provincial Police Services Agreement (PPSA). Since amalgamation in January 2022, the geographic size of the new municipality is nearly ten times the size of the former town, and the population increased by nearly 3000 people.… Continue

‘It just means so much to my family’: memorial banners help locals honour their loved ones

Mike Gillespie and Garth Zwicker, the driving forces behind Tantramar’s 192 memorial banners. Photo: Erica Butler

Tantramar residents will mark Remembrance Day this Saturday with two services: one at Convocation Hall with a parade to the cenotaph at Sackville’s Memorial Park, and a ceremony at the cenotaph in Dorchester, hosted by the IODE Shepody Chapter. But for weeks now the streets of both Sackville and Dorchester have been honouring some of the region’s veterans.

A memorial banner program which started in Sackville in 2016 and expanded to Dorchester in 2019 now features 192 banners featuring photos and basic information submitted by family members. The banners are organized by Garth Zwicker and Mike Gillespie, with printing and design costs covered by family members, and installed on lightpoles done by the town of Tantramar public works staff.

This September, Zwicker, Gillespie and about 25 family members attended a ceremony at the Tantramar Civic Centre to unveil 10 new banners to add to the collection.

CHMA spoke to some of those gathered for the occasion:

Darla MacPherson’s grandfather, Russell Kaye, is featured on one of this year’s newest banners. Kaye served as an engineer in World War II, volunteering when he was 33 years old. “He was making $1 a day in the woods,” says MacPherson. “He had one child and my mother was on the way. So he said, I’m going, because that’ll be a good paycheque for my family.”

MacPherson’s mother was born while Kaye was in basic training, and she was five years old before he returned home in 1946.… Continue

Proposed capital budget includes preliminary work on Dorchester fire hall and village office, plus Pickard Quarry trail improvements

Dorchester village municipal office, May 2023. Photo: Erica Butler

Tantramar treasurer Michael Beal presented the town’s proposed 2024 capital budget to council on Monday, recommending $1,515,000 in capital project spending, with another $200,000 put away in reserve. If approved, the total $1.715 million would come from the town’s operating budget, and none would be borrowed.

The proposed capital budget will go before council on Tuesday, along with a $16.7 million operating budget for the town, a $2.7 million utility operating budget, and a $550,000 capital utility budget.

Nearly 50% of the proposed capital budget ($727,000) would be spent by the public works department, on storm sewers, sidewalks, and the purchase of a new loader expected to cost about $410,000. Another $120,000 is set aside to pay a Tantramar share of provincial department of transportation and infrastructure (DTI) funded projects, which may or may not happen, said treasurer Michael Beal. If applications for DTI projects are not successful, then the $120,000 would be reallocated to cover budget overruns or previously delayed project.

The Active Living and Culture department is planning to spend $272,000 on capital projects, including $40,000 for development of a low impact trail in the Pickard Quarry, which the town acquired last year as part of the Lorne Street Stormwater Mitigation Project. There’s also $25,000 for a parking lot on Walker Road near the head of the Tantramar Outdoor Club trails, and another $25,000 for trails in general.

A new Civic Centre compressor, baseball field lights, and improvements for Beech Hill park are also included in the budget.… Continue

Roger Crossman faces second charge in murder of Marlene Arsenault-Crossman

Roger Hilyard Crossman appeared by video link in a Moncton provincial court room on Thursday. The 62-year old Sackville man is charged with the first degree murder of his spouse, Marlene Arsenault-Crossman, at their home on King Street in Sackville on October 12.

Marlene Arsenault-Crossman was an Amherst native, and for the past few years beloved manager of the Amherst Theatre. She left behind two sons and their families, as well as a number of brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews. Members of Marlene’s family were in court on Thursday.

Shortly after Roger Crossman appeared in court, Crown Prosecutor Martine Cormier asked Constable Andrew Paynter of the RCMP Major Crimes Unit to bring forward new charges against him. In addition to first degree murder, Crossman is now also charged with the dismemberment or mutilation of his wife’s remains.

Crossman did not have a lawyer present, and told the court he had applied for Legal Aid assistance and was waiting to hear back. After Judge Ronald LeBlanc temporarily cleared the courtroom, a legal aid lawyer on duty met with Crossman privately. When court resumed, that lawyer told court that Crossman had applied to Legal Aid two and a half weeks before, and requested an adjournment to allow time for Crossman to be assigned and meet with a new lawyer.

Crossman has been in custody since October 12, undergoing a psychiatric evaluation. The results of that evaluation were not discussed in court Thursday, which had originally been slated as a fitness hearing. … Continue

RCMP recommends single municipal contract with 3 more officers for amalgamated Tantramar

The RCMP detachment at Sackville. Photo: Erica Butler

Tantramar council will soon decide on the future of the municipal and provincial policing service agreements–the MPSA and PPSA–that govern how the RCMP police the region. Currently, the RCMP are under an MPSA with the former town of Sackville, and a PPSA with the former village of Dorchester and local service districts.

“The federal government has advised us that we cannot have two [contracts],” treasurer Michael Beal told council on Monday. “So we do need to have one contract, either an MPSA or PPSA.”

Beal shared some analysis done by the RCMP ultimately recommending that the town move to an MPSA covering the new area, with an increase in the number of officers in the contract.

Currently the Sackville MPSA calls for ten officers to patrol the former town of Sackville, which had a population of about 6,100 as of the last census in 2021. After amalgamation, Tantramar’s new population was just over 9,000. The physical area of the municipality expanded to a much greater degree, going from about 74 square kilometres to 704 square kilometres.

Councillor Allison Butcher wondered about why the RCMP recommended only increasing their complement by three officers. “A 50% increase in our population, almost 10 times the land mass, yet they think only three more officers will be enough?” wondered Butcher.

Councillor Matt Estabrooks also raised the issue of the ‘cop to pop’ ratio, which would go from 1.64 officers per 1000 people in the Sackville contract, down to 1.44 officers for 1000 people in the new MPSA.… Continue

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Budget passes, shared services calculations to be reviewed