Charges laid after stolen clothing donation bins found in storage

An Ottawa man is accused ofstealing clothing donation boxes right off the street from several charities.

The large steel binswere stolen were then painted to cover up the logos of the charities and then rebranded"Canada Community Support Foundation." The accused then allegedly placed the bins back in parking lots for his own operation, according to Ottawa police.

Selling used clothingfromthese donation binsis a lucrative business than can garner as much as$10,000 per bin every month, according toYvonneDub, general director of the Big Brothers Big Sisters'Outaouaischapter.

It's stealing from the poor. It's unbelievable.- YvonneDub,Big Brothers Big Sisters'Outaouais

Her charity had five bins stolen this past November.

A month later,the charity's Ottawa chapter reported six of its bins had disappeared.

"I think it's terrible," saidDub. "It's stealing from the poor. It's unbelievable."

Dubsays the ordeal has been a financial and emotional nightmare, costingher chapter an estimated $100,000 in lost revenue and replacement bins.

That money goes to youth programsin the area.

"The level of stress, the panic," saidDub.

"This is our only way of financing ourselves,it was like we weregoing to close the door if it doesn't stop."

Bins weigh nearly 500 kilograms

The bins are solid steel and weighalmost 500 kilograms and cost roughly $1,200.

Tips from the publicled Ottawa police to a self-storage property in south Ottawa,where officers executed a search warrant in mid-January and found a dozenclothing bins. Four of the bins were reported stolen by Big Brothers Big Sisters, another three were taken from Diabetes Canada, according to Ottawa police.

Investigator AdmirMinarollisays theaccused has been in the used-clothing industry for at least five years. He wasonce a victim and has now become an alleged perpetrator, he said.

"It's one of those the hunted becomes the hunted because he was complaining in 2013," said Minarolli.

Canadian Community Support Foundation contacted police and sent out a press release in June 2013reporting that it was placing GPS trackers inside its clothing bins after a rash of bin thefts in the Ottawa region.

Now five years later, a 35-year-old man connected to the charity is charged with possessionof property obtained by a crime over $5,000 and twocounts ofmischief.

According to CanadaCommunity Support Foundation's website it "provides a safety net for those at risk of falling through the cracks." The charity has not replied to CBC yet.

'This was an eye-opener for us'

Susan Ingram, executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters Ottawa, believes that the remainder of her bins that are still missingcould be repainted and out in the community.

She'swarning the public to check the name on bins before donating used clothing.

"This was an eye-opener for us," said Ingram."I just can't believe someone would do that."

"It upsets me because we're really trying to do good with the money that we're able to bring in because of these clothing donations," she added.

Big BrothersBig Sisters still needs to recover the donation bins that police located inRichmond, but isworried about how much it could cost to remove the bins that are frozen to the ground and transport them back to Ottawa.

Client will be evicted from storage facility

The owner of the storage facility where the bins were found, John Kenny, spoke to CBCNews from Arizona.

He was unaware allegedly stolen property was on the premises of 613 Storage. A client had rented an outdoorspaceand said he was in the used-clothing business, he said.

Kenny said he didn't become aware of the problem until he was contacted by police. The property is a 24-hour access facility that doesn't have an office on site.

"I own four self-storage facilities, I'vegot 3,000 clients," said Kenny.

"I can'tpolice what people put in thebays. They come after hours and they come during the day. We don't go and inspect what they're doing every timethey're in there."

Kenny says he does not condone criminal activityand says theclient will be evicted from the property since charges have been laid.