Senior arrested over bingo, swearing (2 photos)

City Police and Sault OPP arrested Mary Hanuschak of Sault Ste. Marie for Disturbing the Peace Friday.

Well, sort of.

Hanuschak’s ‘arrest’ came on the second and final day of Crime Stoppers of Sault Ste. Marie and Algoma District’s annual Great Algoma Lock Up fundraiser. 

Hanuschak was released for $10 after Tom Burmaster, Sault Crime Stoppers president, stepped in to speak on her behalf.

This was the second Great Algoma Lock Up arrest for Hanuschak, now 81.

Hanuschak was arrested in the inaugural lock up, held in 1990.

Marcie Deschamps, Hanuschak’s granddaughter, insisted on accompanying her grandmother to the Lock Up cell after that first arrest 26 years ago.

“I was crying and very emotional because I thought they were really arresting her, and I didn’t realize it was a joke…I wouldn’t let her go unless the police took me too,” Deschamps told SooToday.

The two posed for a photograph at Friday’s lock up.

This time, Hanuschak was ‘arrested’ for Disturbing the Peace, accused of spending too much money at bingo and excessive amounts of swearing for an 81-year-old.

Swearing?

Is that true?

“Could be,” laughed Hanuschak.

What about too much bingo?

“I play a lot of bingo, I’m a widow now and I do my thing,” Hanuschak said.

“It’s all for a good cause,” she said of the Crime Stoppers Lock Up fundraiser.

During the event, in exchange for a donation, individuals can have friends, a family member or co-worker ‘arrested’ by police, put on ‘trial’ on humorous charges before a ‘judge’ and locked up at Station Mall’s Centre Court in a ‘cell.’

All of the Lock Up’s arrested individuals must pay a ‘fine’ to Crime Stoppers (which consists of funds already raised and put up in advance), then spend one hour in the cell and place calls to friends in a fun attempt to raise even more funds for the organization.     

All funds raised through the Great Algoma Lock Up support the work performed by Crime Stoppers of Sault Ste. Marie and Algoma District, assisting police in recovering stolen property, getting drugs and weapons off the streets and arresting, prosecuting and convicting criminals.

Funds also go to paying one administrative assistant.

Last year’s lock up raised approximately $15,000, with event organizers hopeful of surpassing that amount this year.

This year, Crime Stoppers has launched a social media campaign to raise awareness of the Great Algoma Lock Up, through Facebook and Twitter.

The Great Algoma Lock Up, since 1990, has ‘arrested’ over 800 people and raised more than $240,000 for Crime Stoppers.