(GORE BAY, ON) – On February 28, 2020 at approximately 7:37 p.m., officers from the Manitoulin Detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) with the assistance of the Robinson Township Fire Department responded to a structure fire on Highway 540 in Robinson Township.
At 10:35 p.m., the Manitoulin OPP with the assistance of the Gore Bay Fire Department and the Billings Township Fire Department responded to a second structure fire on Nelson Road in Gordon Township. The residences were unoccupied at the time of the fires. The OPP Forensic Identification Services (FIS), the Manitoulin OPP Crime Unit and the Office of the Fire Marshall (OFM) conducted the investigation.
As a result, 36-year-old Jesse GOULAIS of Robinson Township has been charged with two counts of Arson – Damage to Property, contrary to section 434 of the Criminal Code. An additional charge of Arson- Damage to Property was laid against the accused, stemming from a vehicle fire at an abandoned gravel pit in Robinson Township which was reported to the Manitoulin OPP on September 10, 2019.
The accused has been remanded into custody pending a bail hearing at the Ontario Court of Justice in Gore Bay on March 18, 2020.
