Raymond Solomon was a regular face at a number of local businesses last year.
Giant Tiger was a favourite, but he also managed to make repeated visits to a number of other area stores.
However, he wasn’t a paying customer, and brazenly walked out of the stores with shopping carts filled with items, put them in his vehicle, and drove away.
On June 5, Solomon pleaded guilty to 21 charges stemming from his behaviour in 2025.
He admitted to stealing merchandise – not only from the discount store – but from Circle K, Walmart and an Echo Bay hardware store.
In addition to the thefts, he was convicted of other charges, including dangerous driving causing bodily harm on July 18, and breaches of court orders.
During his spree, Solomon was accompanied by a woman, and their behaviour and sheer number of offences made them reminiscent of Bonnie and Clyde, the Crown suggested.
On May 26, 2025, the pair was at Giant Tiger at 8 p.m where they were spotted on video loading up merchandise.
The woman, who was wearing a pink sweater, was piling stuff in the cart.
Solomon, dressed in dark clothing and a hat, was following her, Ontario Court Justice Romuald Kwolek heard.
They ran out of the store with the cart full of merchandise and without bothering to pay.
“It worked so well” they returned three weeks later on June 17, prosecutor Trent Wilson said.
The couple entered the store at 2:45 p.m. and were recognized by staff, who contacted city police.
“They left through the emergency exit, setting off the alarm,” the assistant Crown attorney said. “They didn’t pay for anything.”
On July 14, Solomon and his accomplice were caught on camera repeating their routine.
Ten days later, at 8:49 a.m. the same two were there – again stealing stuff.
This time they left through the door and entered another business in the mall.
Police located them with the items.
On July 18, he was at an Echo Bay hardware store.
He loaded up a cart and headed to his vehicle where he threw the merchandise into the back seat. As Solomon was getting behind the wheel, the store manager ran over and started pulling items out of the vehicle.
The accused “geared the vehicle,” then drove recklessly and dangerously along Highway 17 B, Wilson said.
The employee was injured and was off work for 10 days.
In September and October, he targeted the Circle K store, located at 381 McNabb St.
Solomon and the woman in pink stole $250 worth of chips, wraps, chocolate bars and gum on Sept. 19.
“They left without making an attempt to pay,” the Crown said.
On the evening of Oct. 8, they were back.
An employee observed them loading bags of potato chips, chocolate bars and cheese, valued at $125, into a black backpack.
As usual, they absconded without paying the bill.
On Oct. 17, the pair surfaced at Walmart on Great Northern Road where a security officer recognized the woman and approached her.
She had a stolen blender, valued at $150, and Solomon, who has a criminal record, was with her.
Citing the need to deter him and others, Wilson called for 12 to 18 months jail, less credit for his pre-sentence custody, followed by three years probation.
These are “brazen crimes,” but Solomon didn’t care. He was going to load up his cart and leave because he believed nobody was going to stop him.
“We can’t have this in our community,” the prosecutor said. “We all pay for it.”
He also urged the judge to impose a three-to-five-year driving prohibition.
Defence lawyer Ken Walker suggested a time-served sentence.
The Garden River First Nation man has been in jail for 184 days – the equivalent of 276 days with the usual enhanced credit for such pre-sentence custody, he said.
“That’s over nine months.”
Solomon, 32, has a “significant gap in his record” with his last conviction in 2017, Walker told the court.
He has autism, a learning disability, acquired a drug addiction five years ago and “went into overdrive when he met up” with the woman.
“I think she was the brain of the incidents,” Walker said.
The defence suggested Solomon is a public nuisance, going into stores “stealing food, junk food and a lot of it.”
When he’s with the woman “they are birds of a feather.”
Both are addicts, he’s co-dependent, and follows her suggestions, Walker said.
When he imposed his sentence, Kwolek noted the significant number of offences that occurred in a relatively short period of time.
Solomon pleaded guilty to nine separate incidents, which indicates remorse, the judge said.
The sheer number of charges is aggravating, but his substance abuse and need to support his habit are mitigating factors.
“Theft is only too common in our community” and there is concern about that, Kwolek said.
He sentenced Solomon to time served – 120 days pre-sentence custody enhanced to 180 days – for the most serious offence of dangerous driving.
Solomon faces a further 90 days behind bars for the thefts. He will be on probation for three years, the maximum permitted under the Criminal Code of Canada.
During that time he must stay from the stores he targeted.
Kwolek also prohibited him from getting behind the wheel for five years.