Suspect turns himself in after vandalism at boat rental depot on Lachine Canal

The manager of a boat rental depot says a suspected vandal has turned himself into police.

H2O Adventures on Lachine Canal made waves this weekend with their appeal to social media users to help identify and apprehend vandals.

On Wednesday morning, staff at the rental shop arrived to find a boat had been stolen, the dock vandalized, and two unknown suspects attempted a break-in.

After reporting the incident to police, owner Marc Bartschat took one further step: he screen-grabbed an image of the trespassers and posted it to social media.

 

 

if you know these vandals please contact us or the police (2nd photo) Stole a boat, vandalized dock and attempted break in. / Si vous connaissez ces vandales, contactez-nous ou la la police (2e photo) Ils ont volé un bateau, vandalisé le quai et ont tenté de défoncé notre porte. #montreal #mtlblog #lachinecanal #canaldelachine #canallachine #sthenri #sudouest #criminals #mtlcrime

A post shared by Aventures H2O / H2O Adventures (@aventuresh2o) on Jul 11, 2017 at 9:09am PDT

Within three days, the post had amassed over 500 shares.

“What we had was no leads, and now all of a sudden we’re getting all sorts of phone calls and emails,” Dylan Trevis, Manager at H2O Adventures, told CJAD 800.

“It’s just huge how social media can take a story and spread it around so easily like that,” he added.

Bartschat told CJAD 800 that he put the image into the public’s hands due in part to unsuccessful police-run investigations in the past.

The move may have proven successful, though.

Trevis said one of the individuals turned himself into police Monday morning and gave up their accomplice.

“If it wasn't for the news and the help of Facebook we never would have caught the ones responsible,” he said.