Havelock Bank Robbery

The Havelock Bank Robbery was a 1961 armed robbery of bank bonds plus $230,000 cash from the Toronto-Dominion Bank branch in Havelock, Ontario.

The five robbers were arrested; one died in custody and the other four were found guilty. The money was never found.

31 August 1961 was the pay day of three local mining companies, and therefore a day in which the Havelock branch of Toronto-Dominion Bank would have more money than usual.^[1]

During the early morning of 31 August, four men entered the basement window of the Toronto-Dominion Bank in the small town of Havelock, Ontario, while another waited in the get-away car.^[1] The assailants waited for staff to arrive, and once they did at 9:15am, the armed robbers politely demanded bank worker William Lindup to open the safe and put the contents into a duffel bag, fleeing minutes later with $230,000 of cash plus bank bonds.^[1][2] The five robbers were armed with revolvers and an M1 carbine semi-automatic rifle.^[2]

As they waited, the neighbouring butcher spotted their Buick vehicle, felt it was suspicious and noted down the license plate.^[1]

The robbers fled the scene in their vehicle, their escape was initially blocked by a bulldozer.^[1] Police chased them along rural roads on the Canadian Shield, and again their escape was delayed when a car with a punctured tire blocked a single-lane road.^[1][3] After hitting a rock and abandoning their vehicles,^[4] the robbers exchanged gunfire with the police and escaped into the wilderness east of the Crowe River.^[3][1]

The Ontario Provincial Police launched a search of the area, involving 75 officers, and captured the suspects on 3 and 4 September^[2] near Ontario Highway 62.^[3][5] Yvon Lalonde and one other robber were spotted on 3 September by lumber mill operator Martin Murphy, and Lalonde was arrested by police hours later.^[2] On 4 September, three suspects were found by Frederick Andrews of Stirling, one of many civilians who were helping the police with the search.^[1] Police constable John Martin then arrested three men, before they were taken to Millbridge.^[2] They were initially held in Peterborough County jail,^[3][5] later transferring them to Whitby jail.^[1]

One of the robbers died of a heart attack while in custody.^[6] The remaining four were found guilty after nine days of trial starting in January 1962.^[6]

As of 2014, The Royal Canadian Mint stated that none of the money was found in circulation.^[3] According to The Toronto Star, the robbery "was considered one of the biggest bank robberies in Canadian history."^[1]

Despite two years of planning, the series of delays in their escape resulted in them becoming known as the "bad luck bank robbers".^[1]

All five robbers, known as the Red Hood Gang,^[7] were French-Canadians from Montreal, Quebec.^[8][6] Jean Claude Lalonde, Yvon Lalonde, Roger Poirier, and Roger Martel were found guilty, Hermyle Lalonde died before the trial.^[9]

The robbery was the subject of the 2006 book Bad Luck Bank Robbers, by Grace Barker, and a 2014 play produced by the 4th Line Theatre also called Bad Luck Bank Robbers.^[3][10] The play was written by Alex Poch-Goldin and directed by Kim Blackwell.^[11]

The township of Wollaston, Ontario, changed the name of the street where the robbers abandoned their vehicle to Bank Robbers Lane.^[4]

• List of bank robbers and robberies
• Virginiatown bank robbery

• Trent Valley Archives - Clive Naismith fonds