2.5 more years in prison for 2022 excavator rampage

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Police in Sussex say they used DNA evidence to identify a man already in prison for a string of Sussex-area crimes in July 2022 as the suspect in an excavator rampage in Wards Creek causing more than $150,000 in damage.

Thomas Quinn Doiron, 30, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison April 4 after pleading guilty in February to mischief over $5,000 and break and enter to steal a firearm July 11, 2022, according to court documents.

According to a prosecutor’s info sheet, Doiron arrived at a Wards Creek property on the Cumberland Road at 5 a.m. July 11 and hot-wired a Kobelco excavator before smashing an outbuilding and driving it through the gate. According to the document, he then took it down the road to a McArthur Road residence where he “used the excavator to completely destroy” a seasonal cabin, tear open a storage shed and ultimately tear open the main door to the residence on the property, at which point he took “a large number of personal property items,” including firearms

In a press release Friday, Sussex RCMP said that DNA evidence allowed them to identify Doiron as the culprit behind the two incidents that day, which resulted in $160,000 in damage, according to documents.

“In this particular incident, the case was brought to a successful conclusion through diligent police work, including the analysis of DNA found in the excavator that helped positively identify the person responsible for this crime,” RCMP Cst. Rob Driscoll is quoted as saying in the release.

Doiron, of no fixed address, was sentenced in October 2022 to three years for a string of charges in the Sussex area dating from July 9 to 17, 2022. Those included aggravated assault, break and enter, attempted arson of a residence, theft of an ATV, theft of gas, possession of stolen property and driving while prohibited.

At the time, court heard that a man in Jeffries Corner was woken up to see that someone was trying to light his front steps on fire with fireworks. In a separate incident, a man told police that Doiron walked into his house and attacked him over allegations regarding his girlfriend.

An update to Doiron’s pre-sentence report says he takes responsibility for his actions “and will be thankful to put this behind him.”

According to the report, he has “been making several improvements since being in custody,” including “steadily working on sobriety” and making efforts to repair his damaged relationship with his mother, and takes responsibility for his actions. His mother was in attendance at his first sentencing in 2022, when court heard his family had cut ties with him due to a serious drug addiction.

Doiron was subject to a DNA sample order and received a 10-year firearms ban, according to documents. He was also ordered to pay $110,400 in restitution to the owner of the residence and $47,100 to the owner of the excavator.