Toronto man guilty in rash of home invasions, vehicle thefts over 2 weeks in 2023

A Toronto man has been found guilty of a series of home invasions, thefts of high-end vehicles and an attempted break-in after a two-week crime spree in October 2023.

Following a week-long trial last month, Superior Court Justice Gillian Roberts convicted Bilal Abdelmouniim Friday on all 23-counts he was charged with.

The 22-year-old smiled and waved from the prisoner’s box at his family sitting in the gallery, just before the judge walked into a downtown courtroom and delivered her bottom-line decision.

“The only real issue in this trial was identity,” Roberts said. “When I consider all the evidence, I’m satisfied you are the person wearing the black puffy vest with a tear in the back so I’m finding you guilty on all counts on the indictment.”

Roberts wrote in her judgement that after considering the manner in which the occurrences were committed, she was satisfied that all six occurrences were committed by the same perpetrator.

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Crown prosecutors Alice Bradstreet and Anjali Rajan argued during the week-long trial last month that Abdelmouniim was involved in all six occurrences, which took place between the hours of 2 a.m. and 3:30 a.m., over the 13 days between Oct. 5 and 18, 2023 in the Greater Toronto Area.

Roberts found all six occurrences targeted high-end motor vehicles parked in the driveways outside residential homes, where the perpetrators looked into the home using a flashlight before breaking in.

“For the first five occurrences, all the homes are entered in the same way: using a large stone or block to smash a window adjacent to an external door. For the sixth occurrence, two masked me appear to look into the home and then leave, without breaking in,” wrote Roberts.

In the first instance, on Oct. 5, 2023, four people broke into a home on Glencairn Avenue near Avenue Road and Lawrence Avenue. The group entered and drove off with a 2023 Mercedes Benz GLS 580 worth approximately $150,000 and a 2024 Porshe 911 Turbo S worth approximately $340,000. A man wearing a black or dark puffy vest with a small circular logo on the left side and a distinctive tear roughly in the lower half of the middle of the back of the vest, is seen throwing a stone at a window next to the front door. The same man can be seen entering the passenger side of the Mercedes Benz as it back out of the driveway.

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The homeowners were home with their children, asleep, at the time the thieves entered and stole the keys to the vehicles.

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The second break-in happened on Oct. 8, 2023 on Tangmere Road near Leslie Street and Lawrence Avenue. At 3:26 a.m., a group of five people working together broke into a home and drove off with a Mercedes Maybach GLS 600 that was parked in the driveway, worth approximately $300,000.

The group also stole three watches from inside the house including a Patek Philippe Nautilis worth approximately $800,000, a Jacob & Co Supreme 4 worth approximately $29,000 and a Jacob & Co Epic X worth approximately $17,000.

Surveillance video from the home captured four men approaching the home, one who was wearing a black puffy vest with a logo over the left side and the distinctive tear in the back. The man in the puffy vest is the first to enter the home and can be seen leaving it carrying a bag.

A woman and her baby were at home asleep at the time.

Through information provided by a tracking device on the stolen Mercedes Benz Maybach, police were able to locate it around 3:51 a.m., roughly 20 minutes after it was stolen. They found it together with a black BMW and an Audi.

An officer followed the Mercedes for about 10 minutes but lost it when it took off at a high speed. Later that same day, the officer found the BMW parked in an underground parking lot on Sheppard Avenue West. Police put the BMW under surveillance and, in the early hours of Oct.9, installed a tracking device on the BMW.

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On Oct. 12, 2023, there was a home invasion on Lloyd Manor Road near Kipling Avenue and Eglinton Avenue where a 2021 Mercedes Benz GL worth approximately $60,000 and a 2020 Mercedes Benz AMG worth approximately $280,000 were stolen. The men arrived in a car that was consistent in general appearance with the BMW seen on Oct. 8 and which contained the tracking device police installed in the early hours of Oct. 9. Tracking data revealed that the BMW was in the vicinity of Lloyd Manor Road at the time of the break-in.

In this case, one of the homeowners was at home with her children, asleep at the time, when the thieves entered and stole the keys from inside the house before driving off with the vehicles.

The fourth occurrence happened on Oct. 16, 2023 on St. Leonard’s Avenue near Yonge Street and Lawrence Avenue around 3:15 a.m. While the homeowners were home with their children asleep, a group of people broke into the home and drove off with two cars in the driveway: a 2023 Mercedes Benz S580 worth approximately $218,000 and a 2023 BMW X7 worth approximately $108,000.

The homeowners were woken by the sound of shattering glass.

The following night, on Oct. 17, 2023 around 3 a.m., a group of four individuals broke into a home on Glen Watford Drive near Midland Avenue and Sheppard Avenue. There was a 2023 BMW X7 parked in the driveway and an Audi RX6 parked in the garage.

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In this case, the homeowner was awake, sitting in the kitchen, looking at his computer when he heard the sound of broken glass. He realized the window next to the back door had been broken. As the homeowner saw three or four people come into the home, he called 911 and pushed the people back. He was not wearing shoes so his feet were cut on the glass.

“He also got a scratch on his arm as he tussled with the men trying to come into his home. They individuals fled without taking anything,” wrote Roberts in her judgement.

Roberts wrote that video surveillance captured four people kicking in the door after a man in a black puffy vest with a distinctive tear in the back threw a concrete block at the back of the home.

“The man in the puffy vest with the distinctive tear in the back is the first and only man who enters the home. He leaves quickly, and all four men flee to the car parked in front of the home, and the car drives away,” she writes.

The final case happened on Oct. 18, 2023 on St. Andrew’s Garden near Mount Pleasant Road and St. Clair Avenue. The perpetrators peered into a home with a flashlight. There was a 2021 Mercedes Benz B-Class AMG parked in the driveway.  The individuals were there for about a minute before leaving.

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A sentencing hearing for Abdelmouniim has been set for January.

Abdelmouniim is also scheduled to go to trial next month, charged with another series of home invasions from 2024.