A 22-year-old man from Revelstoke has been ordered by a Provincial Court of BC judge to pay for the repair of damages he caused to the Fernie Aquatic Centre on October 29, 2022.

In March 2025, while appearing in Provincial Court of BC in Fernie, Aden Shatalow-Dominick was found guilty of one count of mischief and given a suspended sentence with 24 months of probation, with direction to pay $22,837 to the City of Fernie as a result of the incident.

The designated amount was supported by the City of Fernie’s costs associated to repairing the damage to the Aquatic Centre.

At 7:31 a.m. on Oct. 29, 2022, Elk Valley RCMP attended to the Fernie Aquatic Centre on Pine Avenue for a report of mischief to the building, which was impacting the swimming pool for daily use. Staff had initially thought it was a prank to soil the pool for a swim meet being held there that day as the chunks of glass at the bottom of the pool looked like chunks of soil, but further investigation revealed a broken window in the upper level, causing rocks and broken glass to fall onto the pool deck and into the pool itself, making it unusable until cleaned.

Police investigated the route of the unknown suspects and discovered two windows broken. Some forensic evidence was seized from the location for further processing (Specifically, DNA evidence in the form of blood was found on the windows that were broken).

“The costs of this event are immeasurable to some extent, as they effected not only Fernie residents accessing their pool, but also prevented a swim meet for the community being held at the pool over two days this weekend. The repair costs are significant, with the associated clean up – which includes window repair, emptying and vacuuming the pool and its associated equipment – being estimated at over $30,000,” stated S/Sgt. Svend Nielsen, Elk Valley RCMP Detachment commander.

Over the space of the next year, witness information and tips were received from the public, and a suspect was identified.

A Production Order (warrant) was completed for hospital records related to the suspect who had attended the hospital for injuries on the morning of the mischief incident allegedly in relation to a motor vehicle incident that was not reported to police, S/Sgt. Nielsen outlined.

The investigation included support from the ICBC Special Investigations Unit – as the suspect had also made a false report regarding a collision involving his personal vehicle. The injuries noted in the hospital records shared a possible connection to the broken windows at the Aquatic Centre based on location and type of injury.

The DNA evidence, after being collected by an officer of the RCMP Forensic and Identification Service, was forwarded to the lab in the hopes of identifying a possible suspect DNA profile. In August 2023, after receiving confirmation from the lab that a DNA profile had been developed, a warrant was sought to obtain a DNA sample from the suspect who was now located in Revelstoke, Nielsen reported.

Revelstoke RCMP assisted with the arrest and collection of the DNA evidence. In November 2023, a report was received from the RCMP Forensic Lab, which confirmed that the DNA sample taken from the glass at the Aquatic Centre matched the sample taken from the suspect.

A report to Crown Counsel was sent to the Regional Crown Office in Cranbrook for charge consideration as the investigation was now complete.

In May 2024, an Information (charges) with two counts of mischief were approved against Aden Shatalow-Dominick.

The City of Fernie was advised of the conviction and Mayor Nic Milligan stated he “appreciated the diligence shown by the officers throughout the investigation.”

 “Sometimes, the public is not fully aware of the time and effort that these files take while completing the investigation, going through the court process and achieving resolution,” S/Sgt. Nielsen said. “The Elk Valley Regional RCMP would like to thank the City of Fernie, the public at large, witnesses and our other RCMP partners that assisted the Elk Valley RCMP with obtaining  a successful result to this investigation.”

e-KNOW file photo

e-KNOW

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