TheStar.com
The man accused of being Toronto's most notorious bike thief has pleaded guilty to a possessing drugs and just 10 stolen bicycles.
Although he was suspected of possessing almost 3,000 stolen bikes, he was originally only charged in respect to 58 to keep the case manageable, Crown prosecutor Ruth Kleinhenz said outside court Tuesday.
Charges against Jeanie Chung, 38, his common-law wife, were also dropped. The classical pianist faced charges related to stolen goods and drugs found in the couple's rented Yorkville house.
Dressed in gray jeans and sweater, his long hair and beard disheveled, Igor Kenk, 50, stood in provincial court at Old City Hall and admitted 10 counts of possession of stolen property – 10 bicycles worth under $5,000.
He also pleaded guilty to five counts of possession of cocaine and one of marijuana.
He declined Justice Kathleen Caldwell's invitation to make a statement.
He must now serve an additional four months in jail on top of the time he has already spent in pretrial custody. The total sentence was 30 months.
According an agreed statement of facts, on July 16, 2008 police witnessed a man called Jean Laveau cut a bike free from its lock with bolt cutters and take it to Kenk, who reached into a fanny pack to retrieve some cash, which he gave to Laveau.
Laveau then walked to another locked bike, again cutting it free.
Police arrested Kenk and Laveau.
On July 17, a confidential informant told police that he had stolen bicycles for Kenk, who would pay for them with cash or a small quantity of crack cocaine.
The informant knew of others who had stolen bikes at Kenk's direction and had been paid in the same manner.
As a result, police executed warrants of his Queen St. W. bike shop, his home in Yorkville and 10 rented premises, where they found about 3,000 bicycles.
In addition to the bicycles, the warrants resulted in the seizure of about seven kilograms of marijuana and several ounces of cocaine.
In total, Kenk faced almost about 70 theft- and drug-related charges following the raids.
Police subsequently put several thousand of the bikes on display at several locations across the city and invited their owners to claim them. As a result, 582 were returned.
Kenk was released on bail, but was taken back into custody after being charged with assaulting two people in December 2008.
His trial on those charges resumes Friday.
Laveau earlier pleaded guilty to two charges: theft under $5,000 and possession of burglary tools and was sentenced to 14 days.
