Man believed to be suspect in Toronto deathbed robbery taunting police

TORONTO, Ont. - A man claiming to be the suspect sought in connection with the robbery of an elderly woman on her deathbed in a Toronto hospital has been taunting detectives with phone calls in which he boasts he can't be caught, police said Friday.

"He has called a couple times already today,'' said Det. Chris Higgins. "He calls from different phones from across the city.''

The caller says to police "you can't catch me'' and hangs up, Higgins said.

"He is on borrowed time,'' the detective said. "It's only a matter of time till we get him.''

Marcos Marinoni, 26, is sought for conspiracy to commit an indictable offence and theft.

His co-accused, Isaac Lewkowicz, 29, appeared for a bail hearing on Friday and his case was adjourned until Mar. 23.

Police have been flooded with tips after photos of the suspects were released. Officers said even criminals were calling in with leads.

The investigation began Tuesday night after family members of Edna Davis, 83, called police from the palliative care unit at Toronto East General to report she had been robbed of about $7,000 in jewelry when they briefly left the fifth-floor room.

She died minutes before police arrived.

Police are in contact with pawnshops in case the jewelry is fenced.

Purses and credit cards, which were later used, were stolen from patients in at least five hospitals in the Greater Toronto Area, Higgins said.

Patients in maternity wards or palliative care units were targeted by "heartless'' thieves, he said.

Peel Regional Police officers are probing whether a Jan. 26 robbery at Credit Valley Hospital was linked to the case, said Const. J.P. Valade.

In that incident, a camera and laptop computer, worth about $2,000, were stolen from the room of parents of a newborn, he said.

"We are looking to see if any of our open cases will have similarities to the incidents in Toronto,'' Valade said.