Penguins salvage some ParaSport equipment after theft

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Penguins salvage some ParaSport equipment after theft StCatharinesStandard.ca

It was good news — mostly— for Brock Niagara Penguins when they learned police had recovered some of their stolen ParaSport equipment this week.

Club founder Karen Natho said members weren't expecting to see any of it again after the theft in St. Catharines in February and were thrilled when police called Tuesday.

"I was totally surprised. We had written off the equipment because it was a good two months later," she said, giving kudos to police and a citizen who called in a tip.

"The bad news is the individual did some serious damage to the majority of the equipment and didn't seem to have a purpose for doing it. That's unfortunate."

The penguins are the only ParaSport club in the region and is made up of 60 adult and kid athletes with physical disabilities.

ParaSport equipment can be hundreds or thousands of dollars, so athletes rely on the volunteer not-for-profit organization for training.

Natho said one of the two $800 trainers that were stolen was found and usable and a $6,000 recumbent Handcycle bike seemed to be in tact.

But a second handcycle was in at least eight pieces and looks like it was cut with a saw while a $6,000 racing chair was broken into five pieces with back tires stripped off. Neither were salvageable.

Natho said she dropped the pieces off at Liberty Bicycle to see if any parts can be saved for use in the future.

An estimated $22,000 of equipment was reported stolen or damaged.

The club's goal of raising ...

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Career criminal sentenced for theft of equipment from Niagara parasport club

A “career criminal” who stole thousands of dollars of equipment designed for athletes with physical disabilities from a north St. Catharines club will spend the next 52 days behind bars.

“He has absolutely no respect for other people’s property,” Judge Harvey Brownstone said at the sentencing hearing of Shawn Christopher Moroz (43 years old) of St. Catharines in Ontario Court of Justice in St. Catharines Wednesday.

“This man is a career criminal during a time of a pandemic when businesses are going through hell. He’s a one-man crime wave.”

Court heard the 43-year-old Moroz has multiple previous convictions for break and enter-style offences.

Brock Niagara Penguins in February reported to police its trailer filled with equipment had been pried open while parked at Port Weller Community Centre.

The club estimated $22,000 worth of equipment had been stolen, including recumbent handcycle bikes and a carbon-frame race chair.

Police subsequently executed a search warrant at a Parnell Road home and recovered some of the stolen property including a top-end racing chair, recumbent handcycles and two kinetic bicycle trainers.

The not-for-profit volunteer Brock Niagara Penguins is the only parasport club in the region, drawing athletes with physical disabilities from Grimsby to Port Colborne.

Court heard Moroz was involved in several other break-ins which occurred in both Niagara Falls and St. Catharines.

He was stopped by police on Aug. 30 and found to be in possession of 15 laptops from Kate S. Durdan Public School. The vehicle he was in was towing a trailer belonging to the Niagara Regional Minor Football Association.

On Oct. 25, he scaled a fence and entered a locked storage compound at a Canadian Tire store in St. Catharines. He was arrested inside the compound.

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