Investigators travel the country to arrest No. 1 suspect in Vancouver riot

VANCOUVER – Investigators from Vancouver have arrested their No. 1 suspect in last year’s Stanley Cup riot, after tracking his movements through Manitoba, Newfoundland and finally Saskatchewan.

Vancouver police listed 15 people as suspects in the beating of a Good Samaritan the night of the riot, and had previously identified 14 of them.

Now, the department says it has arrested the final suspect in the beating: 24-year-old Jonathan Stephen Mahoney, who was arrested at his workplace in Lanigan, Sask., on Tuesday.

Mahoney is in custody and is expected to return to Vancouver soon to face charges of participating in a riot, assault, assault with a weapon and mischief.

Insp. Laurence Rankin says Mahoney was living in Vancouver at the time of the riot, but has since moved to Manitoba, back to his hometown of Conception Bay, N.L., and then to Saskatchewan, where he was working at a pot ash mine.

Rankin also announced that the force has recommended charges against 50 more people, bringing the number of suspects to 275, although the Crown has only approved charges for roughly 150 of them so far.