Pair of robbers target four properties in rural Flamborough

Around 3 a.m. on Friday morning a surveillance system at Sean Prosje’s home in West Flamborough caught two people lurking about trying to get past his security system for more than 15 minutes.

“They were checking doors, loosening the lightbulbs, trying to see if they could get inside the building, checking our security system,” Prosje said.

Around the same time, across the street, neighbour and former Flamborough mayor Mark Shurvin was awoken by an alarm in his boarding stable. “I could hear people and I could hear them force a window or break a door,” Shurvin said.

The building had been broken into, but nothing appeared to be taken. Another nearby neighbour, Charlie Bois wasn’t as lucky.

He says someone broke into his woodworking shop which would make this the sixth time his property has been targeted in recent years. “The lock had been cut with boltcutters and some of the tools had been taken,” Bois said.

Prosje says a fourth neighbour, too afraid to speak on camera had the most serious encounter and was the one who called the police.

“My neighbour found a leftover weapon, a knife, they had a sharpened screwdriver, they were attempting to steal his car, load up his house, his family was in the house when this happened… they were terrified, they were afraid,” Prosje explained.

Prosje’s partner Tamarah was terrified too, “I actually feel violated, for them to creep around its just, it’s uneasy, I can’t sleep really.”

Prosje is outraged by the whole thing, he says he’s offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the capture and conviction of these prowlers.

He says robberies have been an ongoing issue in the area, and the answer is more police and a full police station for Flamborough. He believes the two suspects would have been caught in the act had more police been available to respond.

“The city needs to release the funds to hire more police officers so we can have the help and support we need out here,” Prosje said.

Local city councillor Ted McMeekin says some crime is on the rise: truck thefts have doubled in recent months and vandalism has shot up 280 per cent, prompting Hamilton police to increase patrols.

Right now McMeekin says the city is working to acquire a piece of land for a police station in the Waterdown/Flamborough area. “We have tentatively slated in the 24/25 capital budget a new police and fire compound.”

The Waterdown community police station is housed inside the Hamilton Technology Centre just across from the CHCH News studios. It’s a small outpost and until the new station is built in a few years, the incredibly large swath of rural territory around our city remains the responsibility of the mountain station in Hamilton’s east end.

CHCH News reached out to Hamilton police for more information on the investigation into these robberies and the plan for a new Waterdown station but has yet to receive a response.