Quebec Inmate Who Spent 51 Months on Lam Pleads Guilty to Escaping Federal Prison
Published on March 21, 2024
A Quebec man who spent 51 months on the lam from a federal prison before he was arrested last year has pleaded guilty to escaping custody. Denis Bégin was sentenced to 18 months in prison to be served concurrently with a life sentence that he is already serving for second-degree murder. Court documents in an unrelated case from Correctional Service Canada identify Mr. Bégin as a suspect in the Old Montreal fire last year that killed seven people, but police have never publicly identified him as a suspect and no charges have been laid in that case. Mr. Bégin, 63, pleaded guilty on March 21 in a brief appearance by video conference before Quebec court Judge Marc-André Dagenais in Laval, Que., north of Montreal....