Is the bicycle BB-gun vandal escalating? Man ordered to pay $15,000 in restitution for broken windows

Months after Rhodey Roberge was banned from attending downtown businesses for pellet-gun damage, residents on a Fairfield Island street are concerned if he is behind small 'homemade bombs'

Remember the case of the BB-gun vandal and the cinnamon bun bakery?

In yet another criminal court case that was covered by local media but not followed up on after summer 2023, Rhodey Michael Roberge was found guilty and sentenced back in September 2024 for damaging windows at four businesses and two churches with a pellet gun.

Now neighbours are concerned about small fires from homemade mini-bombs in recent weeks in the Bonavista Street area of Fairfield Island. Roberge has not been arrested for the incidents nor has he been positively identified as being involved, but the RCMP have been called numerous times and some people are worried.

"They have to do something," one neighbour told me. She asked to be anonymous because neighbours fear they are targeted by the perpetrator after police are called. "He's going to burn someone's house down."

Several small fires have been discovered recently, all involving food cans that appear to have some sort of incendiary device in them.

In addition to the fires, there are allegations a man has been throwing marbles at windows, aiming lasers at the sky, flying kites and letting them fall on houses, all strange minor actions in the middle of the night.

Roberge's conviction for a breach of his release conditions on Dec. 4, 2023, was allegedly because he was found walking around with a potato gun in the middle of the night. He was convicted of another breach of his sentencing conditions in October 2024.

One neighbour has surveillance footage of a man walking down Bonavista at 3:19 a.m. on June 16, 2025 with something in his hands, then walking back to that house at 3:25 a.m. That was the day the fire was discovered on the lawn of a house where 12 days prior there was an unrelated kitchen fire attended to by the Chilliwack Fire Department.

When the kitchen fire happened on June 4, 2025, a neighbour said at least six RCMP officers attended, a large police presence for a somewhat minor fire. The neighbour said officers reported they attended when they heard "Bonavista" and "house fire" over the scanner wondering if it was "the guy who makes his own bombs."

$15,000 for broken windows

Now 43, Roberge was 40 when he was arrested Jan. 17, 2023 after reports of window damage from a pellet gun at SimAmen Bun Co. and Cozy Cotton’s Quilting, both on Young Road near the CN Rail crossing.

“I got hit by the bebe [sic] gun biker!” the owner of Cozy Cotton’s Quilty posted on Facebook after her window was smashed. “I’m trying so to make my business a success but things like this are really breaking my spirit.”

The then manager of SinAmen Bun just south on Young said the costs for replacing broken windows are expensive for small businesses with $1,000 deductibles.

“The last time we had to replace a window it was between $400 and $500 bucks, and we just did it out-of-pocket because the insurance deductible is $1,000,” he said back in February 2023. “For the big panes, I have no idea what they’ll cost, but that will impact our bottom line at a time when we’re struggling a bit.”

Surveillance video from SinAmen Bun helped police identify Roberge as the suspect and they tracked him down. 

In all, Roberge was found guilty of seven charges, one each from Dec. 17 and Dec. 31, 2022, and four from one night, Jan. 15, 2023. He also faced on breach of a release order at that time and since was convicted of the October 2024 breach.

The four businesses Roberge hit were Valley Cycle Locksmiths, SinAmen Bun Co., Carstar Chilliwack (Wallys), and Cozy Cottons Quilting. He also caused damage at Heritage Reformed Church and Chilliwack Alliance Church. As part of his court-ordered probation conditions obtained by Something Worth Reading, he is not allowed to attend those six locations.

Other conditions include obeying a curfew from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. every day, no possession of any weapon as defined by the criminal code, and 25 hours of community service. He also was ordered with this sentence to pay six different amounts of restitution each from $1,000 to $5,000 for a total of $15,751. 

Roberge has not been charged with anything related to any of the fires above nor has he been charged with any breaches since October 2024.

I've reached out to the RCMP to comment on the open file regarding the fires on Bonavista. I also asked the chief of the Chilliwack Fire Department if a cause had been determined at another unrelated fire that destroyed a house and an RV on April 16, 2024.

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Paul J. Henderson
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