After allegedly unlocking a tenant’s apartment and stealing hundreds of dollars of property, Princess Towers superintendent Justin Wagar was arrested on March 5 for break and enter and possession of stolen property. 

A Kingston Police press release identified Wagar only as a 36-year-old local man, however Cam Mack, Kingston Police media relations officer confirmed to The Journal that the accused was Wagar. The press release also identified the apartment only as one in the 400 block of Princess St. and that the arrest was connected to a theft on Feb. 27. However, the victim of the theft come forward to The Journal with further details.

On Feb. 27, Rosa Lee, QMED ’19, said she and her boyfriend had returned to their apartments at Princess Towers. At around 5:30 p.m. Lee describes walking up to her friend’s apartment, number 302. Her boyfriend put the key in his door, but noticed it was unlocked. 

“Just as we were about to open the door, superintendent Justin Wagar came out,” she said. 

She said her response was to scream, at which point Wagar said that he was checking the apartment because of a water leak from the apartment right above — which belongs to Lee. Upon entering, her boyfriend went over to his desk, seeing that a drawer was slightly open. 

Lee said $300 in $100 bills was missing along with a $3,000 watch. Lee called the apartment office to report the incident, at which point she said “a woman picked up and said she wasn’t aware of any water leakage.” 

After saying she would call the police, Lee said she was asked to wait 10 minutes for a call back, and that when the phone rang again, Wagar was on the other end of the line and denied taking anything. 

The the couple contacted Kingston Police. Constable Steve Koopman met with the couple, then with Wagar, who, according to Lee, described an Asian female in her 20s asking him to check on her apartment on the fourth floor. 

“402 is the only apartment right above 302,” Lee explained. She lives in 402, and her boyfriend in 302. As an Asian female in her 20s, she fit the description, but said she told police that the couple was together the night previous and never made a call about water leakage.

On March 5, Lee found an ad on Kijiji advertising a watch identical to Lee’s boyfriend’s, originally posted on March 2. Lee contacted police and arrangements were made with the seller to purchase the watch, but at the time they arranged to meet, police arrived instead and placed Wagar under arrest. 

When contacted by The Journal, Princess Towers owner Wayne Webster said he was “aware of most of the details” of the case. 

“We suspended the superintendent without pay until he is convicted at which time he may be terminated for cause,” Webster wrote. “His bail conditions prohibit him from being on Princess Towers property, or being within 100 meters of Ms. Lee or her companion.” 

The note also listed “several state-of-the-art security systems” and noted that their hiring policies are up-to date. “We are committed to maintaining a safe and secure environment for all our customers. Regrettably that is not Ms. Lee’s recent experience and for that we are very sorry.” 

Lee and her boyfriend say they just want to get out of the apartment. “[We] had contacted Princess Towers to end [our] lease early, given the circumstances. [We] were denied multiple times,” Lee said. 

She claims that when she contacted Webster about the issue, noting that she spoke to The Journal as well as The Kingston Whig-Standard, she was met with reasons not to go to the media. 

“If you decide to involve the media be prepared to have your position challenged, and expect a lawsuit against you and your Guarantor, for any loss of business, goodwill, etc. suffered by us as a result of frivolous or unjustified actions,” read an email from Webster to Lee, which she provided to The Journal.

Wagar’s arrest comes only weeks after his brother, Jason Wagar, was arrested as part of a Kingston Police investigation on increased residential and commercial break ins dating back to fall 2016. 

Jason was one of four men identified by detectives as responsible for a string of crimes. 

Jason was charged with five counts of possession of property obtained by crime, four counts of break and enter into a business, break and enter into a residence and theft.