Bail denied after alleged breach

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This article was published 20/07/2023 (1148 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A man who pleaded guilty to robbing a Brandon pharmacy with a gun last year will stay behind bars after he was denied bail in court on Tuesday.

Salvatore Salvaggio is back in custody for allegedly breaching his previous release order following the robbery, and for allegedly breaking rules while living at Morberg House, a transitional house in Winnipeg, earlier this year. The Crown opposed his release on all three grounds for which an accused can be denied bail.

Though Salvaggio has pleaded guilty to a count of robbery, the breach charges against him have not been proven in court and he remains innocent until proven guilty.

Crown attorney Sarah Kok read the evidence for the charges in court.

Around 8:50 p.m. on May 9, 2022, the owner of the Shoppers Drug Mart on Victoria Avenue East called police reporting that she had gotten a text message from an employee that said the store was being robbed and that they couldn’t call 911.

Officers were in the area and were able to get to the scene quickly. When police pulled into the parking lot, they noticed a man in camouflage pants and a blue sweatshirt leaving the store. He was wearing a white mask and seemed to have something in his pocket.

The store employee would later confirm to police that he was the man who had tried to rob the store.

The man began to run along the store building as police officers yelled at him to stop and that he was under arrest. The man continued to run away, and at one point officers noticed the suspect pull a brown handgun out of his pocket.

The man continued to run toward Dennis Street, where he hid in the tree line on the west side of the pharmacy, prompting police to set up a perimeter and call for backup.

Eventually, police arrested the man, and a .22-calibre handgun was later found underneath a tree by the Brandon Police Service’s K9 unit. The gun was loaded with a magazine that was registered to the suspect.

The Shoppers Drug Mart employee told police in a statement that while he was working he noticed a man standing next to him holding the handle of a gun in the pocket of his pants. The man demanded that the pharmacist give him hydromorphone, an opioid used to treat pain.

The prosecutor said that at Shoppers Drug Mart, hydromorphone is stored in a safe with a five-minute timer. The pharmacist took the man to the safe and put the code in to begin the five-minute timer to release the drug. The man told the pharmacist that he was armed and that the pharmacist “better not push any panic buttons.”

However, there was an error with the safe, and after the timer was up, it still wouldn’t open. The man left the store, and the incident was caught on video surveillance.

After his arrest, Salvaggio was released by a judge in October 2022 to live at Morberg House in Winnipeg, which houses men experiencing addiction, homelessness and mental health challenges. However, at the home he allegedly breached the conditions of his release.

The next month, the man left Morberg House and a warrant for his arrest was issued. He wasn’t found until Brandon police received a report about a potential overdose on Second Street. Ultimately, the man wasn’t overdosing, but was drowsy because of taking prescription drugs, which were in his name.

Police arrested him for breaching his release conditions, and he has been in custody since.

Kok emphasized the seriousness of robbing a pharmacy with a loaded gun, which Salvaggio has admitted, and noted the offence comes with a mandatory minimum sentence.

She said that the recent charges Salvaggio received are an indication that the 33-year-old can’t follow release orders. She also said that after he left Morberg House, Salvaggio never turned himself in even though he made his way back to Brandon.

“I do believe the administration of justice would be placed into disrepute if he was released, given the fact that he has already had an opportunity to be on release,” Kok said.

Salvaggio’s defence lawyer, Greg Sacks, said that his client had made attempts to turn himself in, but because of jurisdiction issues, Salvaggio was required to turn himself in to BPS, not the Winnipeg Police Service. Sacks also said that his client had tried to deal with his addiction issues at Morberg House and was doing well for quite a few months until the breaches.

“He’s an individual who has some awareness of the issues that he is facing and the seriousness of the matters that he is facing,” Sacks said.

Salvaggio has no criminal record.

Sacks presented a bail plan that would have his client living with his employer in Brandon, where he would be on house arrest-like conditions, only leaving to go to work. The employer was also willing to act as Salvaggio’s surety. He said that his client would continue to look at addiction programs and treatment options while on bail.

Judge Patrick Sullivan said that he empathized with Salvaggio’s struggles with addiction.

“Opioid addiction is a very, very powerful thing,” he said.

The judge said that the original bail plan to live at Morberg House was stronger than the one that proposed Salvaggio live in Brandon. He acknowledged Salvaggio’s attempts for treatment, but ultimately decided that Salvaggio could not be released and denied his bail application.

Salvaggio’s matter will next appear in court on Aug. 10.

» gmortfield@brandonsun.com

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