A prisoner who lost an eye to an aggressive cancer while in jail in Ottawa has been charged with theft and robbery in Gatineau.
Jesse Sabourin Whitlock, 31, had accused doctors at the jail of ignoring problems with his sight until it was too late to save his eye.
On Tuesday, Gatineau police accused him of breaking into a building housing a radio station on May 19 and of committing a robbery at a Maxi store on St. Joseph Boulevard on June 1. Staff in the convenience store reported they had stopped a man for shoplifting but that the man threw something at them and escaped, police said.
Police described the suspect as having a “squinting eye,” but believe it was the high-definition surveillance photo they released of a suspect that helped more with the arrest.
“On the same day, not even a couple of hours, we received information about the name of the suspect and where he was living, everything,” said Const. Pierre Lanthier.
Lanthier said Whitlock was already back in jail in Ottawa on unrelated offences when he was charged with the Gatineau crimes.
Whitlock had previously been in jail in Ottawa serving a lengthy sentence for stealing a car and leading police on a chase when he complained to the Citizen about his medical treatment at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre.
Whitlock said he had complained about flashes in his eye in February 2013 but that a jail doctor told him it was likely caused by dust.
When his vision got so blurry he couldn’t read in September, Whitlock said, he was sent to The Ottawa Hospital’s Eye Institute. Whitlock was diagnosed as having a fluid buildup on the back of his eye that he was told was likely caused by stress.
It wasn’t until two months later it was discovered he had a choroidal melanoma. His eye was eventually removed.
A retinal surgeon agreed Jesse Whitlock‘s left eye might have been saved if the choroidal melanoma had been identified sooner, but he wouldn’t blame other doctors for missing it because the cancer is extremely rare in patients as young as Whitlock.
