A criminal who allegedly threatened strangers to ransack their homes and harm their loved ones to make better money failed to convince a judge to release him, even with an electronic bracelet.
Michelangelo Bonny would have gotten into the habit of presenting himself as a collector. His role? Make sure the debt is repaid. To achieve his goals, the defendant would even go so far as to threaten to destroy a person’s home or kill another person’s mother, as we recently learned during his release investigation at the Laval courthouse.
“It’s time to pay,” the defendant is said to have written to an unknown woman in October 2022. The trial summarized that she didn’t know why they wanted to extort money from her.
Last February, he allegedly warned a person that he would break windows in his home if he didn’t pay back $55,000.
Then he put his threats into action. In the following days, the alleged victim was actually visited by a burglar who broke down the front door of his apartment with a hammer before fleeing.
Betrayed by cameras?
Michel-Ange Bonny was allegedly betrayed by the surveillance cameras at a hardware store near his home, which filmed him buying a hammer.
He was arrested and then charged in Laval earlier this year in connection with this recent incident.
But he convinced a judge to release him by promising to be on good behavior.
But the man wouldn’t have hesitated to violate his conditions and would have even done it again by blackmailing another stranger this summer.
He allegedly warned a man that he would have to pay him quickly if he didn’t want “more rock ‘n’ roll viewing” and also threatened to attack his family.
Bonny was arrested again this fall.
During a search of the defendant’s home, police found two cell phones linked to the phone number used to make the threats. They also seized $225,000 in checks and several luxury items worth $65,000, including a diamond-encrusted Rolex watch.
The defendant also drove a black Tesla Y, which was seen several times during the investigation, it was said at the hearing.
Even though the defendant seemed to lead a rather hectic life, in recent years he had only declared “wrongdoings” with his taxes, complained Judge Yanick Laramée, denied him a second chance and instead ordered him to be detained until the end of the proceedings.
Numerous breaks
She also pointed out his numerous violations of the conditions. The one who could not leave the Laval and Montreal areas actually took the liberty of leaving the province entirely to go to Toronto.
To justify himself, he told the judge that he simply wanted to go to a Blue Jays game.
He proposed to be released on his own recognizance ($500/month) with an electronic bracelet, but the judge ruled that this would not prevent him from reoffending since the crimes were committed using a phone.
He is also accused of fraud. In particular, he is said to have usurped the identity of an individual in order to rent luxury accommodation in Laval. The defrauded person apparently realized the problem when a bailiff demanded more than $5,000 from him for months of unpaid rent.
Bonny is due back in court in Laval next month. He also has an extortion record in Montreal.
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