The man who escaped from a minimum-security penitentiary in the Laurentians last week, only to be found in Toronto hours later, is a convicted killer who has been turned down for parole several times since 2010 and has complained about how much time he has spent behind bars “for only killing one person.”
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On Feb. 24, staff at the penitentiary in Ste-Anne-des-Plaines noticed that Ricardo Vilches, 85, was not present when they did the noon head count of the offenders there. Less than six hours later, police in Toronto arrested him.
His escape probably raised alarm bells for Correctional Service Canada. Vilches has been eligible for full parole since 2008 but has been turned down several times, in part because of his attitude toward female staff at the various penitentiaries in which he has served time.
According to the most recent decision made by the Parole Board of Canada in Vilches’s case — when he was turned down for a chance at unescorted leaves on April 12, 2024 — he said he feels he has served enough time for a person convicted of “only” one homicide.
On Sept. 14, 1985, Vilches stabbed his ex-wife, 33-year-old Patricia Fierro, in front of their teenage children inside Fierro’s apartment in Dollard-des-Ormeaux.
After he killed Fierro, Vilches went to the home of a friend and told him what he did. The friend tried to convince Vilches to turn himself in to police, but he opted instead to flee to Guatemala where he started a new life under an alias and married another woman.
He returned to Canada years later and lived in Toronto under the name Stefan Ostrowski with his second wife and their young child before he was arrested in January 1994 for an attempted extortion at a jewelry store in Ontario. When he was arrested, Vilches was fingerprinted and police learned his true identity. He was returned to Montreal where he pleaded guilty on March 15, 1995 to second-degree murder. He automatically received a life sentence and his period of parole ineligibility was set at 14 years.
Vilches has requested parole several times since 2010 and was turned down each time. He also has applied for a transfer to Argentina, his country of origin.
Vilches began serving his sentence at a maximum-security penitentiary in 1995. He was transferred to a medium-security institution two years later and then a minimum-security penitentiary by 2007.
“In 2014, you had to be transferred back to (a maximum-security penitentiary) as you were unable to be transferred to any other institution in the region due to your problematic behaviour and boundary concerns towards female staff members,” the parole board noted in its decision made last year denying Vilches access to unescorted leaves, the first step toward parole for offenders serving long sentences in Canada. “Between 2004 and 2013, there were three incidents of inappropriate behaviour with female staff and/or volunteers where you expressed romantic feelings towards them.
“In January 2019, you were involuntary transferred from minimum-security to a medium-security institution on an emergency basis due to a series of incidents where you were demonstrating a poor attitude, being aggressive and disrespectful behaviour towards female staff.”
Vilches was transferred back to a minimum-security penitentiary in August 2023, but his case required special management “regarding the individuals supervising you, including the need to have predominantly male members make up your case-management team.”
The parole decision notes that Vilches took part in more than 300 escorted leaves — to do community service and work-release programs — but they were stopped in 2018 “as information at the time suggested continued problematic behaviour regarding interactions with female staff.”