dailynewsnblog
A man who was arrested and charged in a bizarre break-in on board a tugboat in Nanaimo last weekend had been struggling with sobriety, according to his former employer.
The suspect was caught on security footage over the weekend allegedly entering a resident’s tugboat and spending nearly 30 hours on board.
Owner Andrew Reynolds’ security camera filmed the man helping himself to food and even cooking a meal, before vandalizing some of the furniture on board.
Reynolds alleged the suspect smashed the wheelhouse and cabin cameras and threw them overboard.
At one point he appeared to be smoking something and engaging in bizarre behaviour.
“He was running around the salon area, kicking, karate chopping, doing strange things, climbing on tables,” Reynolds said.
After a standoff with police and the Emergency Response Team, Marcel Alvin Fontaine was arrested and is currently out on bail.
The 44-year-old’s former employer, who requested his name and company name not be disclosed due to safety fears, spoke to Global News Thursday.
The owner of the Central Vancouver Island HVAC company said he hired Fontaine in July 2024 as a sales rep.
Last March, the employer said Fontaine told him he fell off the wagon following a vacation in Jamaica with his daughter.
Get daily National news
Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
Fontaine then tried to seek treatment, according to his employer, and was in and out of rehab when he returned to Alberta last April.
Fontaine returned to Vancouver Island in late 2025, and allegedly assaulted three people with a weapon on December 23 during an incident at Thrifty Foods. RCMP allege Fontaine, who is also charged with theft and wilfully resisting a peace officer, stole items and obstructed the attending officer.
His former employer said Fontaine had been sleeping in his jeep in his office parking lot in late January. He claims he was forced to call the RCMP and a towing company to assist in removing Fontaine and his vehicle on Jan. 29.
B.C.’s mental health and addictions critic says this is becoming a common issue across B.C. as more and more people struggle to access help.
“It’s hard to watch,” Claire Rattée told Global News.
She overcame homelessness and addiction in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, so she knows how challenging it can be.
“Not only will you do things that you never thought you would have done before, but certainly when your mind has become broken when you’re struggling to that extent with your mental health,” she said.
“We don’t have the systems right now in place to help people like that, and the problem is this isn’t a one-off, this is something that’s happening with thousands of British Columbians that are struggling and have nowhere to turn.”
At least six recent arrest warrants were issued for Fontaine in Alberta on charges including failing to comply with probation, possessing a controlled substance, possessing a firearm, mischief, causing a disturbance by screaming and food, beverage and accommodation fraud.
“This individual has an extensive history with the courts,” said Alberta Justice in an email.
The B.C. government is still pushing for bail reform and has tightened its rules.
B.C. Attorney General Niki Sharma said she believes B.C.’s rules are the strictest Crown bail policy in Canada, but tougher criminal code rules are needed around it.
“Bill C-14 covers a lot of those gaps and it needs to be passed,” Sharma said.
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
