Terror and extortion in downtown Montreal: charges brought against two individuals

Two individuals face several charges for having sowed terror among restaurateurs in downtown Montreal by carrying out violent acts of extortion.

• Also read: Targeted restaurants: five suspects arrested by police

• Also read: [VIDÉO] Terror in the city center: a series of restaurateurs victims of violent acts of extortion

Taevon Nesfield and Avianna Thompson were handcuffed on Thursday, on the sidelines of a vast police offensive to counter a wave of intimidation against traders.

Three young people aged just 14 were also recently arrested for similar crimes.

Nesfield, 30, and Thompson, 20, now face various charges.

The first is suspected of having attempted to extort money from the owners of two restaurants in recent months, while the woman is accused of having discharged a firearm twice in the direction of an establishment .

Attack filmed

Nesfield’s most recent alleged crimes date back to September 12. The MAÜ restaurant, on rue de la Montagne, was then the subject of a disturbing attack.

In the images from a surveillance camera obtained by our Bureau of Investigation, an individual appears masked and wearing a hooded sweater.

Armed with a hammer, he hits everything in his path. The tables, the glasses, the equipment behind the bar.

His message: the owner must pay the sum of $100,000 to a criminal network.

“You’re going to pay!”, the bandit said in English before leaving the scene, not without smashing two windows in the portico.

A few days later, the restaurateur received another threatening message, an envelope containing gun bullets.

The indictment against Taevon Nesfield reveals that the latter also attacked Hidden Fish during the summer, from whom, according to our information, the sum of $100,000 was also demanded.

Its storefront had also been smashed.

In this case, it was a neighboring establishment that received the envelope containing the bullets, probably by mistake.

Fatal fire

It was also the owner of the latter who called the police, which led to the launch of a criminal investigation.

The police are also studying the hypothesis that this wave of attacks is the cause of a fatal fire in Old Montreal.

A French tourist and her daughter died while staying in an Airbnb located above a restaurant targeted by an arson attack.

Justin Fortier Trahan, 20, and Juventino Hernandez Pelaez, 18, were arrested in this case.

The first is suspected of being the arsonist behind the tragedy, while the second is said to have driven the vehicle to flee the scene.

-With Jean-Louis Fortin, Investigation Office