A candidate who finished second-last in the race to become Woodstock’s mayor was arrested one day after the just-held election on charges that include uttering threats, resisting a police officer and damaging property.
Tuesday, the day after the election, a Woodstock resident alleged they received online threats, police there say. Peter Croves, 51, who came in fifth among six candidates in the mayoral race with 66 votes, was arrested and charged.
“The accused (Croves) is currently in custody and there is no threat to public safety as this time,” Woodstock police said in a statement. The circumstances around the charges were not immediately clear.
Croves, who describes himself as a “post-master’s degree student,” said in an interview during the campaign that he was trained by his father, a former mayor, “in the art of political science.”
“I want to continue a 300-year family tree tradition,” Croves said of his motivation to run for Woodstock mayor. “I have economic knowledge and know-how, and the city was hit by the economic blows of (COVID-19). I have a plan to lead this city and set it on the path to a bright and better future for us all.”
Croves is charged with five counts of uttering threats to cause death, bodily harm or property damage, resisting a police officer and failing to comply with a probation order.
Woodstock’s mayoral election was won by Jerry Accione, who garnered 3,612 votes. He defeated, among others, Trevor Birtch, the city’s two-term mayor, who mounted a campaign while facing six sexual assault charges involving two complainants.
Birtch finished fourth and managed less than one-tenth the support of mayor-elect Acchione, with a little more than 300 votes, or 3.3 per cent of the votes cast.