The arsonist left the exterior of the office building at 165 Steamship Bay Road mostly intact. The white trim remained clean. The signs above the front and back doors were untouched — bold, unscorched, unbothered.
But a closer look told a different story. The glass door was shattered. The windows were blackened with soot. Smoke stains curled up from the frames. Yellow police tape flapped in the wind. Inside was charred and empty.
From a distance, the building looked almost presentable. The facade held together. The name above the door still promised business as usual.
For those who knew the company that operated inside — Muskoka Boat Rentals — the image felt familiar: a polished veneer, a hollowed-out core.
A Pattern of Withheld Deposits
Over the course of more than a year, Muskoka411 conducted an in-depth investigation into Muskoka Boat Rentals, drawing on interviews with eight former customers, seven ex-employees, and two marina owners with decades of experience in the region’s boating industry.
Some sources requested anonymity due to concerns about potential reprisals. Muskoka411 granted this condition to encourage open and candid discussion of their experiences with MBR.
Their accounts point to a pattern in which the company wrongfully withheld damage deposits, often by attributing pre-existing or fabricated damage to customers, inflating repair costs, and issuing phony or unverifiable invoices.
Former staff also allege that superficial patch jobs were passed off as full repairs, with renters billed for work that was never properly done.
Muskoka Boat Rentals denies the allegations. Two current managers, Britney Ottobre and Bill Mayhew, defended the company’s practices in separate interviews.
“All Our Customers Are Like Our Family” – Muskoka Boat Rental’s Website
One of those customers was Matt Beck, who rented a wakeboard boat from Muskoka Boat Rentals in September 2019. He had never used the company before.
Beck was staying at a Muskoka cottage with friends and family and had found MBR’s website, where he selected a wakeboard boat for a two-day rental. “Our partnership with our clients is formed through open and candid communication founded on mutual trust, honesty and reliability… All our customers are like our family,” the homepage read.
On the morning of the rental, Beck and his group arrived at the company’s Gravenhurst office. They were asked to complete paperwork and leave a $5,000 damage deposit — standard for boats over 24 feet. The process took nearly an hour. Then the boat was brought in on a trailer.
“That’s when they started to be a little more sketchy,” Beck said. Staff asked them to inspect the boat for existing scratches or damage. There was no formal documentation, only a suggestion to take photos.
“It was basically all on us,” he said. “They were like, ‘I recommend you take photos so that you have a record.’ There were a number of scratches on it, and I was surprised there was not more of a formal way for these scratches to be tracked.”
Beck and his friends photographed every visible mark. “They pointed out even specks of dust,” he said. “At one point, one of my friends said, ‘I don’t know if we should be renting from these guys. This is the most intense thing I’ve ever seen.’”
The launch that followed didn’t inspire confidence. “They didn’t quite have the right trailer for [the boat],” said Beck. “They struggled to get it in the water. My brother and my friend both own boats and were almost laughing — it was the most amateur boat launch they had seen.”
“That was a big red flag. He was trying to charge us for something that clearly wasn’t our fault.”
— Matt Beck
Once in the water, the boat ran fine. They tied it up overnight at their rental cottage dock using proper bumpers, then returned it the next day.
Getting it out of the water was worse. The trailer had no winch, so the staff used a ratchet strap to pull the boat back on.
During the post-inspection, Beck said, a staff member quickly claimed the wakeboard tower was bent. “I was like, ‘That’s impossible. We didn’t even use the tower.’” He was told the tower often bent when customers parked inside a boathouse. “I said, ‘We had no boathouse. Just a dock.’ He said, ‘Well, there’s nothing I can do about it; it’s bent.’”
Beck pulled up photos taken during the initial inspection. After 10 to 15 minutes of back-and-forth, the staffer acknowledged the tower had already been bent. “That was a big red flag,” Beck said. “He was trying to charge us for something that clearly wasn’t our fault.”
The inspection continued. This time, the staffer crawled under the trailer — something Beck said had not been done earlier — and pointed to a scratch on the hull. “He said it was from us,” Beck said. “But we were in deep water the whole time. A lot of us have driven boats for years. If we’d hit something, we would have felt it.”
MBR said the deposit would be held. Beck’s group objected. “We said, maybe you did the damage loading the boat,” he said. “But they were adamant.”
Weeks passed with no response to follow-up emails. “I kind of assumed we were going to lose our deposit,” said Beck.
He contacted several repair shops, which estimated that the scratch could be fixed for a few hundred dollars. MBR charged $1,000 without providing a receipt or invoice and returned the remaining $4,000.
Muskoka Boat Rentals was founded in 2015 by German businessman Roland Hejna. From its location at the Gravenhurst Wharf, the company has become one of the most prominent boat rental providers in Muskoka, with a fleet of more than 80 watercraft and roughly 30 seasonal staff each summer, according to company managers.
On its website, MBR describes itself as “the perfect business that suits your needs,” promising “personalized treatment” and “fun-filled summer vacations” that keep loyal customers coming back each year.
For most renters, the process begins and ends with paperwork, a deposit, and a boat. Few would think to ask who owns the company or what kind of business model sustains it.
But within Muskoka’s marina community, Hejna’s name has long raised eyebrows.
“What’s happening and what [Hejna] has done to people for 20 years and gotten away with in Muskoka is absolutely ludicrous,” said one local marina owner, who has known of Hejna through years of marina acquisitions, lawsuits, and closures.
Public records, court documents, and interviews with former colleagues reveal a pattern of financial collapse and legal disputes that stretches back well before MBR — and, according to critics, mirrors some of the same tactics described by its former customers and employees.
A Business Built on Damage?
Bobby rented a boat from Muskoka Boat Rentals in the summer of 2022. The trip ended without incident. His damage deposit was returned.
Then, in January 2023, nearly six months later, he noticed a new $3,000 charge on his credit card from MBR.
“I saw ‘Muskoka Boat Rentals’ charged for like $3,000, and I was like, ‘What?’” he said in an interview with Muskoka411. “Obviously, I knew something was up.”
He called the company, but the call went to voicemail. He didn’t wait for a response. Instead, he contacted his bank and disputed the charge.
The refund came through immediately. His bank told him it would handle the case from there.
Bobby said he never received an explanation from MBR — no call, no email, no invoice. Just the charge.
David P. rented a boat from MBR in the summer of 2022. On the final day of his trip, while returning to the marina, he accidentally veered to the wrong side of a marker and struck submerged rocks.
“There was some propeller damage, so we knew we were going to be subject to paying for the damages,” he said.
MBR staff inspected the boat and estimated the repair would cost between $500 and $1,000. David was told the balance of his $3,000 damage deposit would be refunded within a week, and that an invoice would follow.
But weeks passed. The refund never came. Nor did the invoice. When he called the company, no one could provide details.
“The communication seemed fishy,” he said. He turned to the internet and found dozens of reviews describing similar issues — withheld deposits, unanswered emails, unexplained charges.
David suspected MBR had curated many of its glowing reviews to obscure real complaints. “It became really evident that they were creating [fake] reviews themselves… and then you start to see all the accurate ones about the damage deposits.”
After two and a half months of follow-up attempts, David finally reached a manager, who told him the repair costs had exceeded the deposit and he wouldn’t be refunded.
“I told [the manager], ‘I figured you would say that. I’m pretty convinced you guys are running a fraudulent organization.’ He cursed at me and hung up the phone.”
David reported the charge to his bank and received a temporary refund. But MBR disputed the claim, submitting an invoice and asserting lost rental revenue. The bank reviewed the documentation and sided with MBR, recharging David the full $3,000.
He also contacted the local police. “They told me they weren’t going to do anything about it,” he said. “They said this was a small claims court matter.”
In the end, David gave up. “It wasn’t worth the energy or the cost to fight it further.”
In an interview with Muskoka411, MBR manager Bill Mayhew dismissed the allegations, saying most complaints arose from disagreements over damages and repair costs.
“The only time we get complaints is when a customer feels like they have not damaged a boat or that we are overcharging for the cost of repairs,” said Mayhew. “But everything is explained to them before, during, and after the rental.”
Mayhew said propeller damage — the most common issue — can be more costly than customers realize. Even a minor chip or bend, he said, can throw the propeller out of balance and affect the drive shaft, which “alone is about $1,200, not including labour.”
He added that lost rental revenue also factors into the bill.
“That’s where the fucking negativity comes from, especially on Google,” he said.
MBR does not shop around for the best deal on repairs, Mayhew added. Instead, the company gives all repair work to a single shop in Bracebridge, though he declined to name it. “I can’t share that information,” he said.
According to a former MBR manager, the deposit disputes were no accident. In an interview with Muskoka411, the ex-employee described what they said was a systematic effort to charge customers for damages they didn’t cause, or for repairs that were never completed.
“We would have a chip on the skeg, or we would have a big chip on a prop and [Hejna] would have a [staff] putty it, sand it all down, and then paint it so it looks brand new,” the former manager said. “The next couple of rounds out, even if you hit a bunch of weeds, it would take that chip out again because it’s just putty.”
They said the repair materials weren’t marine-grade—just resin and cosmetic patchwork. However, customers were charged as if the parts had been fully replaced.
When customers requested invoices, the former manager said that fake ones were often created.
“He would send a bogus invoice because the boats would never leave the property,” they said. “He would say there is travel time from here to the shop. I think we would charge $150 each way. Then he would put a bogus bill together and charge like $1,500 for a prop… even when there was nothing wrong with the shaft.”
Staff sometimes pushed back, but they were selective about how far they could go. “People would complain, but they didn’t want to lose their jobs,” the former manager said.
Another former manager, Ryan Hebb, who worked at MBR from 2016 to 2022, also told Muskoka411 he believed customer deposits were wrongfully withheld.
“Being a manager, I had to deal with all the issues,” Hebb said. “They all had to come through me when I was there, so I had to deal with all the angry customers.”
A separate former manager alleged that Hebb directly participated in the deposit scheme. Hebb denied this, but acknowledged that such practices occurred during his time at the company.
Taken together, the stories from customers and former employees suggest more than a few billing disputes or isolated oversights. They describe a consistent set of practices — undocumented inspections, superficial repairs, and inflated or fabricated invoices — that, according to multiple sources, were central to how Muskoka Boat Rentals operated.
Dozens of online reviews echo those same concerns. Over the past several years, at least 72 publicly posted complaints reference withheld deposits, surprise charges, and unresponsive staff.
And for those familiar with the man behind the company, none of it was a surprise.
The Man Behind the Boats
Roland Hejna’s business history predates Muskoka Boat Rentals, and for some, it explains what came next.
Before launching MBR, he ran a sprawling network of marinas and vehicle rental companies in Muskoka. The enterprise collapsed under the weight of more than $59 million in debt and a civil fraud ruling that found Hejna had committed cheque kiting. This banking scheme creates the illusion of available funds by rapidly transferring cheques between accounts.
Hejna, who sometimes goes by his middle name Christopher, immigrated to Canada from Germany, where he had operated a vehicle leasing business near Dresden. His first Ontario company, New Ark Marina, was registered in 2002 and operated on Lake Muskoka. A year later, he launched Muskoka Toy Rentals, offering high-end sports cars for rent. Over the next several years, he expanded aggressively — acquiring or leasing marinas in Innisfil, Port Carling, Fenelon Falls, Huntsville and Minett.
At its peak, Hejna’s businesses employed about 85 people, according to court filings and local media reports. Then, in 2007, everything began to unravel.
That spring, the Royal Bank of Canada sued Hejna, alleging he had engaged in cheque kiting to fraudulently access millions in credit. The court later appointed Grant Thornton Ltd. as receiver, which seized Hejna’s assets and took over operations. As of December 2006, court documents show Hejna’s companies owed more than $59 million to creditors, including $15.3 million to RBC, $8.5 million to GE Commercial Distribution Finance, and another $30 million in outstanding mortgages.
Boats were seized from marinas. Luxury vehicles were towed off the lots. A marina owner recalled: “There were tow trucks everywhere just repossessing everything. People’s boats that were being rented were being repossessed on the water.”
In 2013, Ontario Superior Court Justice Susan E. Healey found Hejna had knowingly engaged in cheque kiting and ordered him to pay $6.4 million to RBC. Because the judgment involved fraud, it could not be discharged through bankruptcy.
“There were tow trucks everywhere just repossessing everything. People’s boats that were being rented were being repossessed on the water.”
— Marina owner
Hejna also faced criticism from the court-appointed receiver and other creditors. In a 2007 affidavit, he denied wrongdoing and rejected the claim that he had misled lenders or misused company funds. “Despite the criticisms levelled by the interim receiver,” he wrote, “there is no evidence that I have ever conducted my affairs in a manner where I absconded or dissipated the companies’ assets for my personal use. Mediocre business management should not be automatically equated with any type of intentional wrongdoing.”
In 2017, Hejna’s name resurfaced in the Paradise Papers — a global leak of offshore financial records that revealed how individuals and companies used tax havens to conceal assets and avoid oversight. Hejna was linked to a Bermuda-based company, CRK Marketing and Development Inc., which had previously been referenced in Ontario court proceedings related to the collapse of his marina businesses.
“Throughout this bankruptcy, Roland Hejna becomes this horrible name associated with Muskoka,” said one local marina owner who knew Hejna during his earlier ventures. “No one wanted a part of him after he had ripped off everybody. But then, all of a sudden, MBR appears. Somehow, he has siphoned out MBR and has continued to operate MBR until today.”
On July 8, 2014, Hejna registered the name Muskoka Boat Rentals. The following winter, he purchased the Gravenhurst Wharf building for $300,000 through a separate corporation. That same year, he secured a contract to operate the waterfront services at Taboo Resort on Lake Muskoka. By the summer of 2015, MBR was renting boats from both locations. Hejna ran the business with his brother-in-law, Arman Simonaya.
Online, the company promised trust, reliability and personalized service. But by 2016, reviews were appearing that told a different story: customers describing unexpected charges, withheld deposits and silence when they asked for receipts.
In 2019, Taboo Resort ended its partnership with Muskoka Boat Rentals.
“Taboo ended their relationship with Muskoka Boat Rentals (MBR) in 2019 as a result of their problems with customer service,” said Ryan Chatwin, director of property management, in a written statement to Muskoka411. “We provided assistance to our guests who were having issues with MBR. Since then, we have had no interaction with MBR or any of their affiliates.”
Chatwin and the resort’s managing director, Nigel Hollidge, declined to be interviewed further and did not respond to additional questions about the nature or frequency of complaints.
“When I was there, I heard that all the time,” said a former MBR employee who worked the waterfront at Taboo as a teenager. “People would come back and say they didn’t get their deposit back.”
A Suspicious Fire
In early 2023, the company drew fresh attention — not from customers or reviewers, but from emergency crews.
Just before 4 a.m. on March 22, a fire was reported at Muskoka Boat Rentals’ building at the Gravenhurst Wharf. Firefighters arrived to find the structure engulfed in flames. The blaze caused an estimated $750,000 in damage.
Investigators deemed the fire “suspicious” and launched a joint probe involving the Gravenhurst Fire Department, the Ontario Fire Marshal and the Ontario Provincial Police. For months, no charges were laid and the cause was not publicly released.
That changed in April 2025, when 30-year-old Carlos Pena-Torrez pleaded guilty to arson. According to court records and media reports, surveillance footage showed him leaving a Toronto residence the night of the fire and arriving at the Wharf around 1:45 a.m. Location data placed him at the scene until shortly after 2:30 a.m., when he returned to Toronto. Gasoline was used to ignite the fire.
Pena-Torrez, who has reported ties to organized crime, was separately sentenced to 12 years for the attempted murder of a reputed Montreal Mafia figure. He received two years for the Gravenhurst arson.
Whether he acted alone or on behalf of someone else remains unclear. Police have not stated whether any connection to Muskoka Boat Rentals or its owner, Hejna, was investigated or ruled out. Muskoka411 reached out to the Ontario Provincial Police to confirm whether Hejna had ever been considered a suspect or whether any link between him and Pena-Torrez was explored. As of publication, no response has been received. Hejna has not been charged with any offence in relation to the fire.
In an interview with Muskoka411, MBR manager Bill Mayhew confirmed that investigators questioned him about his whereabouts the night of the fire.
Several former MBR employees told Muskoka411 they did not believe the blaze was accidental. Some speculated it may have been set to destroy company records, and pointed to the timing, which coincided with the start of this investigation, as suspicious.
None of the allegations have been proven.
Two years later, the office at 165 Steamship Bay Road remains unused.
The windows are still blackened, and the doors are boarded up. The building stands quiet, unchanged. In its place, a shipping container now sits nearby, converted into a makeshift office for Muskoka Boat Rentals.
Long before the fire, renters were already turning to the courts.
Jamie Gilmore rented a pontoon boat from Muskoka Boat Rentals in August 2022. The trip ended without incident — or so he thought.
On the day he returned the boat, MBR staff told him there was no damage and that his $3,000 deposit would be refunded within a few days.
It wasn’t. After nine follow-up calls and a visit to the Wharf office by a friend on his behalf, Gilmore had only received $1,000 back. Staff told him a manager would call. No one did.
On his tenth call, Gilmore changed his approach.
“I figured it would get their attention,” he said. “I’m a lawyer… I’m used to litigation, so why not issue a claim?”
He filed a small claims lawsuit. It cost him $108. Shortly after MBR received the Statement of Claim, the remaining $2,000 was refunded.
Gilmore acknowledged that for most people, filing a claim might not be practical — especially if they had to hire a lawyer. “Unless you know how to do it yourself, it’s probably not worth it,” he said.
Enforcement Gaps Leave Renters on Their Own
Despite years of complaints, no provincial or federal agency has stepped in to investigate Muskoka Boat Rentals or regulate its practices.
Customers attempted to recover their deposits through credit card chargebacks. While some saw results, others had the charges reinstated after MBR submitted invoices or claimed lost revenue.
Others pursued legal remedies through small claims court or contacted police and consumer protection agencies. However, in each case, the issue was treated as a civil dispute, outside the scope of enforcement.
In Ontario, there is no central regulator for boat rental companies and no standard process for resolving deposit disputes. Federal rules govern safety, but financial practices — including how damage is assessed and deposits returned — are left largely unmonitored.
That leaves renters at the mercy of a company’s honesty. And when trust breaks down, there’s little recourse.
According to a former MBR office manager, withholding damage deposits accounted for a significant portion of the company’s daily revenue. On busy days, they said, MBR could bring in $70,000 to $80,000, with up to $20,000 coming from partially or fully withheld deposits.
They estimated that more than half—and possibly up to 75 percent—of customers lost some or all of their deposits.
But the consequences, sources say, go beyond financial loss. They point to a business model that undermines safety, erodes trust in the tourism industry, and puts the region’s reputation at risk.
“When damage becomes the business model, safety gets in the way,” said a longtime marina owner in Muskoka. “They’re renting to anybody, and they’re not giving proper (safety) instructions. They’re looking for damage. The whole goal of their business is damage. They don’t give a fuck about safety. They don’t give a fuck about who they rent to.”
The result, they said, is more accidents, more rescues — and a rental experience that looks nothing like the glossy brochure. “I’ve personally had to save the life of one of their clients,” the marina owner added.
Gravenhurst has long been celebrated as the “Gateway to Muskoka Lakes,” a title rooted in more than 150 years of boating heritage. Since the 1800s, visitors have arrived by train to Muskoka Wharf Station and boarded steamships to explore the region’s vast and scenic waterways. Today, many still begin their trips at the Wharf — and are greeted by Muskoka Boat Rentals.
“People save money all year to bring their family up to Muskoka,” said a former MBR manager. “Then there’s a ‘mishap’ with a prop that was already broken, and they get charged. I love Muskoka. If I were a tourist and that happened to me, I’d never come back. You hurt people. And I’m not into hurting people.”
The former manager eventually resigned over what they described as persistent ethical concerns.
Muskoka Boat Rentals continues to operate in 2025. Its boats still launch from Gravenhurst Wharf.
Owner Roland Hejna did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Muskoka411 attempted to contact him by phone and a hand-delivered letter to the MBR office.
Muskoka411 is continuing to investigate. If you have firsthand knowledge about the 2023 fire at Muskoka Boat Rentals’ Gravenhurst location — or past business dealings involving MBR or its owner, Roland Hejna, including real estate investment disputes — we welcome any information, documents, or accounts that could help clarify unanswered questions. Confidentiality will be respected. Please contact Taylor West at taylor@muskoka411.com.
