SARNIA, Ont. - Criminals looking for drugs - particularly OxyContin - are to
blame for an alarming trend of violent home invasions in this southwestern
Ontario city, police say.
“We’ve noticed an upswing in home invasions,” Sarnia police Staff Sgt. Doug
Warn said. “They are almost exclusively related to the drug culture and
OxyContin in particular. It’s becoming one of the drugs of choice. Because
they’re so addictive people are succumbing to that and they have to commit
crimes to obtain them.”
Warn said pain pill dealers and users are both being targeted by addicts.
In the most recent home invasion late Thursday night, a woman was punched in
the face, choked and beaten after she answered her door and two masked men
pushed their way inside. Police said they don't believe it was a random act,
as the suspects immediately asked the woman where the drugs were in her
home.
The woman suffered head injuries in the attack and is recovering in
hospital.
