Advertisement 1

Four plead guilty in series of armed bank robberies

Article content

Four men who were arrested more than two years ago as suspects in a series of armoured car heists pleaded guilty to some of the charges they faced at the Montreal courthouse on Tuesday. 

Included among them was Paul Thomas Bryntwick, a notorious bank robber who had been arrested in the past in robberies carried out with members of the West End Gang. Bryntwick, 66, of Mississauga, Ont., pleaded guilty to three of the 13 charges that were filed against him in December 2015. When arrests were made two years ago, the Montreal police said the men arrested were collectively suspects in a total of six armed robberies in which robbers caught armoured car guards by surprise while they were delivering large sums of money to or from banks. 

Advertisement 2
Story continues below
Article content

Charges initially filed in the case involved robberies between 1999 and Jan. 29, 2015. The men who appeared in court on Tuesday collectively pleaded guilty to charges involving four robberies — carried out in Montreal between Oct. 27, 2011 and Jan. 29, 2015 — as well as a conspiracy to rob a bank during the latter half of 2015. 

Article content

Bryntwick admitted that he was part of a conspiracy to commit a break-in with two of his co-accused — Walter Butt, 57, and Serge Fournier, 66 — between June and December 2015. According to a joint statement of facts submitted to the court by Bryntwick’s lawyer, Nellie Benoit, Bryntwick and the two other men were “seen, either alone, as a pair or a trio, staking out bank branches. They surveyed the premises, examined and tested the locks on the front doors. Wiretap evidence (recorded) them speaking about various scenarios to enter the targeted addresses, the security at these locations and the schedule for the cash deliveries.” 

The same document describes how on Dec. 6, 2015, Fournier was seen entering a branch of the National Bank of Canada on Newman Blvd. in LaSalle using a key, and then disarmed the alarm system. Bryntwick and Butt were spotted outside acting as lookouts while Fournier apparently tested the bank’s security system. 

Advertisement 3
Story continues below
Article content

Bryntwick also pleaded guilty to carrying out one of the robberies, a heist pulled off on Oct. 29, 2014, at a Bank of Montreal branch on Masson St. in Rosemont. Bryntwick and Butt had staked out the bank days in advance and the branch’s surveillance cameras captured their images twice as they managed to unlock the front door and disarm the alarm system. 

With all that preparation in hand, Bryntwick and Butt managed to hide in an office inside the bank and surprised two Garda armoured car guards as they arrived. Both of the robbers were armed and ordered the guards to lie on the ground. The guards were handcuffed before Bryntwick and Butt made off with $170,000. 

Butt pleaded guilty to playing a role in all four of the robberies, including one carried out on Oct. 27, 2011, at a National Bank of Canada branch on Sherbrooke St. A guard working for the G4S armoured car company was shot in the leg when gunfire was exchanged during the heist. Two masked gunmen made off with more than $450,000 and Butt’s DNA was found inside a hat recovered at the scene. 

When police searched his cottage on Dec. 22, 2015, they found a firearm that resembled the one used in the Oct. 29, 2014 heist. They also found $100,000 in cash buried in the basement. At another of Butt’s residences, police found a military box buried in his backyard with $75,000 (in 50-dollar bills) hidden inside. 

The other man who pleaded guilty on Tuesday was David Stachula, 49. He admitted he took part in two armed robberies and was part of a plot to rob a Royal Bank branch on Dorval Ave. in Dorval late in 2015. Stachula was observed by police as he, Butt and another man, Gary Marsden, staked out the bank between October and December 2015. Earlier this month, Marsden pleaded guilty to being part of the same conspiracy and was sentenced to a two-year prison term. 

Superior Court Justice André Vincent agreed to hear sentence recommendations for the other four men in September. 

pcherry@postmedia.com

Article content
This Week in Flyers