Provincial police have arrested a suspect and laid almost 300 charges in a string of church thefts dating as far back as 1999.
49 year old Barry Barnes of Barrie is facing 279 charges for break-ins at churches and community centres across Ontario.
Most of the break-ins occured in Bruce, Grey, Huron and Wellington Counties but the suspect is connected to incidents across the province.
While most of the incidents have occurred since January — police allege Barnes may be responsible for some robberies that were committed almost 10 years ago.
Police say they had previously laid 250 charges against more than 40 people in similar church robberies.
The investigation was based on interviews with more than 300 witnesses.
Barnes is to appear in an Owen Sound court on June 2nd for a pretrial hearing.
