Stolen Car, property mischief plagues avenue du Vallon, Aylmer sector

“I woke up on Wednesday, looked for my car – and blink – realized it was gone. It was so surreal!” Linda Mongeau, a resident of Avenue du Vallon in Aylmer recounted to this reporter, referring to the theft of her car during the night of Tuesday, August 29th to Wednesday morning, August 30th.

She said it was most mysterious, since no sound was heard from her dog or suspicious noises heard by her late-to-bed-teens. What’s more, the locked car’s keys, which were inside her house at 222 Avenue du Vallon, were not stolen.

She called police who came and reported the incident, pressing charges according to procedure for car theft protocol. She said Sergeant B. Guindon, who came to the scene, mentioned that other mischief had been reported in the neighbourhood.

City of Gatineau police spokesman Sergeant Jean-Paul Lemay said that three other thefts had occurred in parked vehicles on the same night. “These are what we call ‘fishing expeditions’ where there is petty theft of whatever can be scooped up quickly,” he said.

In June, Ms Mongeau said a neighbour’s work I.D. had been stolen, the wallet later recovered in the Buckingham area. And a year earlier, there was evidence that someone had started to unfasten the ties to her kayaks with the obvious intent of theft.

She said the police indicated that evidence seemed to point to the fact that the thieves did not wish to risk confrontation.

The stolen car is a silver-gray 2010 Subaru, 4-door, Impreza hatchback.

Aldo Jaurequi, a resident of Rue des Chantiers in the same neighbourhood, says these thefts give him pause on beefing up security measures to protect himself and his family. “Some of us weren’t bothering to lock, so this comes as a warning to do that now,” he said.