Four found guilty in RBC bank heist

Four people who played varying roles in a daring burglary of the Royal Bank of Canada’s Shedden Road branch in 2016 have been convicted of the half-a-million-dollar heist.

After three full days of deliberations, a jury of seven women and five men returned unanimous guilty verdicts against David Samuel Bodden Jr., Statan Omar Clarke, and husband and wife Elton and Eliza Webster.

Upon hearing the guilty verdicts, Bodden stood in silence with his head down, while Clarke shook his head and appeared shocked. Eliza Webster knelt sobbing at the dock railing as her husband attempted to console her.

The three men were each convicted of one count of burglary, while Eliza Webster was convicted of a single charge of possession of criminal property.

Following the guilty verdicts, Judge Roger Chapple allowed all four to be released on bail, pending a sentencing in late August.

“I am extending your bail, but be under no disillusion that, come time of sentencing, any option but a custodial sentence is inevitable,” Chapple told them.

Turning his attention to the jury, Chapple thanked the panel and excused them from further service for the next four years, telling them they had earned a well-deserved break.

A case of circumstantial evidence

The complicated trial, which spanned several months, was based entirely off circumstantial evidence and pieced together over eight years.

At the centre of the heist was Bodden who, in his capacity as a then bank employee, deactivated the branch’s security system and left the door open for Webster to enter the building and empty several cash-dispensing machines.

Although no video evidence of the theft was recovered, the prosecution provided the jury with information showing Bodden’s key fob was detected on the floor with the cash-dispensing machines a short time before the bank’s security protocols were breached.

Webster, the burglar, was able to quickly make his way into the building undetected and, using the code to the machines, empty them of more than half-a-million dollars, before being picked up by Clarke, the getaway driver.

Eliza Webster, who played no role in the actual burglary, was stopped by Customs and Border Control officers at Owen Roberts International Airport, where she was found to be carrying approximately US$4,000 in mint condition, with several bills in sequential order.

During the trial, the three men each took the stand, denying any participation in the burglary. Eliza Webster chose not to give evidence.