Four people have been arrested for last week’s brazen daytime home invasion, beating, and robbery of 2012 World Series of Poker Champion Jonathan Duhamel according to the Montreal Gazette. Mark David, a spokesman for the Agglomeration de Longueuil police department, stated that four people (three men and one woman) have been arrested in conjunction with the crime.

According to earlier reports, two men rang the doorbell of Duhamel’s home just outside of Montreal, Quebec at 9:15 AM on December 21st. When Duhamel answered the door the men forced their way inside and beat the 24 year-old Canadian before stealing his WSOP Championship bracelet, an engraved Rolex watch given to Duhamel by his sponsor PokerStars, as well as large denomination Euro bills and Canadian currency.

According to David, a 20 year-old woman was arrested on December 24th and charged with conspiracy. Two days later police arrested the two men (Aged 22 and 26) believed to have attacked Duhamel and charged them with breaking and entering, assault, forcible confinement and possession of stolen goods. A fourth suspect (a 20 year-old male) was arrested on December 29th. The police are still trying to determine if Duhamel was specifically targeted by the group due to his exposure for his 2010 WSOP victory which netted the youngster a whopping $8.9 million payday.

Three of the four suspects were arraigned at the Longueuil Courthouse on Wednesday, December 28th. According to the Montreal Gazette:

“Bianca Rojas-Latraverse, 20, of St. Sauveur, and John Stephan Clark Lemay, 22, of Pointe Claire, were charged with armed robbery, forcible confinement, breaking and entering, assault and conspiracy. Lemay and André Perron, 26, of Pierrefonds, were charged with possession of a stolen watch worth more than $5,000.”

The 20 year-old suspect remains unnamed and has not been officially charged at this point in the investigation, which police are calling “ongoing”.

Cbc.ca is reporting that, “Duhamel’s agent confirmed to The Canadian Press that the woman was someone the poker player dated over a short period and is the only person among the accused his client actually knew.”

According to the police the Rolex watch was recovered but Duhamel’s WSOP Championship bracelet is still missing. Duhamel has offered a $10,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest of the thieves and the recovery of the stolen items. Should anyone turn in the thieves without the return of his WSOP bracelet and watch Duhamel offered up $5,000.

Duhamel dialed 911 and was taken to a nearby hospital following the harrowing ordeal. He was treated and later released from the Hospital. On his website Duhamel issued a statement detailing the events and his injuries:

“I spent (Dec. 21) at the hospital and (I was) black and blue all over but no broken bones, no blood clots, nothing to worry about. Today, I am exhausted, both physically and mentally but I’m happy to be alive.”

Hopefully the bracelet (a one of a kind item that will be difficult to unload for anything other than its melt value) will be recovered. If the bracelet is lost, my suggestion would be for the WSOP to create an exact copy, designed by the same jeweler who fashioned the original.

Tags: Agglomeration, Armed Robbery, Canadian Currency, December 21st, December 28th, Doorbell, Euro Bills, Home Invasion, John Stephan, Lemay, Montreal Gazette, Montreal Quebec, Old Woman, Pointe Claire, Rolex, St Sauveur, Stephan Clark, World Series of Poker, World Series Of Poker Champion, Youngster

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 29th, 2011 at 5:21 pm and is filed under Poker News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.