A St. Albert man who previously owned the city's only pawnshop has been charged with a vicious assault against a 75-year-old Edmonton pawnshop owner earlier this month.
Kenneth Angus Campbell, 56, has been charged with one count each of robbery, aggravated assault and possession of a weapon dangerous to the public.
David Woolfson, owner of A1 Trading at 95th Street and 111th Avenue, was found by three of his customers on March 1 after he had been attacked with a hatchet.
An undisclosed amount of cash and jewelry were taken from the store. Security cameras in the store were not working at the time.
Woolfson was left temporarily blind following the attack and doctors had to reattach his ear.
In a press release issued Thursday, Det. Rob Paton of the Edmonton Police Service robbery sections commended local RCMP for its help.
"Just as this case touched a lot of citizens, it also had an impact on those who were involved in the investigation. Our robbery section detectives worked very hard on bringing this case to a conclusion, but credit also needs to go to patrol members who were first on scene, as well as the St. Albert RCMP who provided assistance."
Long history
Campbell had a lengthy history in St. Albert. For many years he operated the city's only pawnshop, even working with the city at one point to help draw up a land-use bylaw change for second-hand stores.
Police raided the shop, St. Albert Loans and Exchange in 2004 and found several items of stolen property.
In 2005, he was granted a conditional discharge on a single count of possession of stolen property with the primary condition being that he not operate a business anywhere within St. Albert's city limits.
The case alleged Campbell had willingly taken in goods he knew were stolen and attempted to sell them in his store.
Campbell was operating an online auction site at the time, called yourauctionsite.com, and a warehouse storage business. He was granted an exemption that allowed him to keep operating that business, but was ordered to try and relocate it quickly.
In 2006, he faced several fraud charges relating to his online auction site.
Several people had come forward to police claiming they had put their goods up for sale on the site and had never received payment after the items sold.
In January 2009, after a warrant was issued for his arrest, Campbell pleaded guilty to a single count of fraud and was handed a six-month jail term.
The goods included iPods and tools and Campbell was ordered to pay $4,577.93 in restitution to his victims during a year of probation that followed his jail sentence.
He also pleaded guilty to three breaches of probation, because after the 2005 conditional discharge he had missed appointments with his probation officer, failed to complete community service hours and continued to operate a business within St. Albert.
