The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) has launched a Canada-wide warrant for a violent offender with a history of attacking children, just weeks after his release from prison to a Toronto residential facility.
The OPP’s Repeat Offender Parole Enforcement (ROPE) Squad said 44-year-old Simon Gares, whom Toronto police has previously identified as a threat to public safety, is wanted for breaching the terms of his statutory release.
The nation-wide warrant was issued April 8, nearly two weeks after Toronto police issued an advisory about Gares’ release from prison, describing him as a “high-risk offender” who has “demonstrated risk to the community, including children.”
Simon Gares in a police handout photo. Ontario Provincial Police
Gares is described as being five-foot-10 and 170 pounds, with brown hair and hazel eyes. He has an extensive collection of tattoos including a dragon on his right shoulder, a tribal joker on his left shoulder, an Irish Cross on his right forearm, and the word “TWISTED” etched on his back, police said. Additionally, he has barbed wire tattoos on both wrists, with “LIFE IS SIMPLE” inscribed on the right wrist and a star symbol, the number five, and “SHY NO” on the left.
Gares is known to frequent the Toronto area, police said. He was granted statutory release from prison on March 14 and moved to a community-based residential facility in the city.
He is currently serving an eight-month and 17-day sentence for violating a long-term supervision order, the OPP said.
Statutory release permits federal inmates to complete the last third of their sentence in the community while under supervision, according to the Parole Board of Canada. They are required to adhere to certain conditions, such as abstaining from alcohol and drugs, and provide regular reports to authorities. Offenders who breach their statutory release conditions are often sent back to prison.
Gares has an extensive criminal history that extends back to 1995, which includes charges of assault with a weapon, robbery, breaking and entering, and breaches of probation.
He was found guilty in 2018 of assaulting a 5-year-old boy in Toronto, punching and kicking him “for no apparent reason,” according to court documents.
The assault occurred on Aug. 5, 2016, when Gares, who was sitting on a sidewalk, attacked the boy who had stopped at a nearby bakery with his mother and older brother. The victim and the offender didn’t know each other, the court decision said.
Gares punched the boy in the face and then “violently kicked the victim in the head as he lay on the ground.”
Gares was apprehended by Toronto police officers to whom he disclosed that he suffered from schizophrenia and that “voices” were urging him to harm others, the court document said. Gares later denied the remarks and his actions.
The OPP is asking anyone with information about Gares to contact Crime Stoppers, the Provincial ROPE Squad Main Office or call 911.
Carolina Avendano contributed to this report.
