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Columbia Valley RCMP Report
By Cpl. Brent Ayers
Between the dates of May 9 and 16, the Columbia Valley RCMP Detachment responded to 55 calls for service.
Vehicles factoring large in criminal activity
The large majority of files reported appeared to be theft from vehicles, theft of vehicles, and attempted thefts of and from vehicles. A reported Break and Enter to a garage in order to rifle through vehicles looking for identification and insurance papers and several files specific to theft of license plates.
One gets the picture quickly! Much of this may have been criminals travelling through the Invermere/Radium Hot Springs area and or crimes of opportunity from local criminally minded subjects linked to out of area criminals.
Just a reminder to all full and part time residents including vacationers that we must all be vigilant to do our part to safeguard from being victimized the best we can. Take your keys out of vehicles, lock your vehicles and attempt to make sure identification and property is out of sight out of mind and report suspicious activity regardless of the time of day.
Karma happens
Without providing too many details the next two incidents will be before the courts in Chilliwack and Edmonton but provides closure to a degree.
On May 7, at 11:11 a.m., Columbia Valley RCMP were notified of a theft of a vehicle that occurred overnight from a residence in Radium Hot Springs. The complainant reported that their vehicle had been stolen from their driveway overnight and provided good details of the vehicle.
The vehicle information was sent to the surrounding detachments for their information by the police investigator and the vehicle was added to a computer system that is utilized by law enforcement across Canada.
An RCMP officer in Hope stopped to check the vehicle at 5:10 p.m. with a Merritt subject changing a flat tire (Karma). This subject advised the driver was not there but was arrested anyway for possession of stolen property over $5,000. Drugs were located on the subject and other administrative items were issued on the subject on behalf of the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles. The Merritt subject will be returning to Chilliwack for court with reference to the charges pending Crown Counsel review in Chilliwack. In the situation of this particular vehicle it is likely that the vehicle was headed to a “chop shop” in the Lower Mainland.
Using stolen card led to bust in stolen vehicle case
On May 9, a complainant reported that their pickup truck had been stolen from outside of his work in the area of Windermere. Further details were provided specific to the truck and time as to when it was stolen. Unfortunately (but worked out to some degree in the end) a wallet with a credit card was in the truck that belonged to the complainant. A credit card had been used throughout the day in Cranbrook at a few places including a rental company. The primary Columbia Valley investigator, as well as another assisting member of this detachment were obtaining video surveillance and created some leads, which ultimately led to a suspect with a rental vehicle having been identified now in Edmonton.
Edmonton Police Service had then recovered the stolen rental car from Cranbrook with the subject in the car who had posed as the complainant for the Windermere stolen truck using the identification missing from the stolen truck. This adult male is facing charges and obviously further investigation is under way.
Motorcycle vandalized
On May 11, a complainant reported vandalism (ignition punched) to his Kawasaki motorcycle over the last weekend while he was out of town.
CRA scam rears ugly albeit real-looking head
On May 13, a complainant reported to Columbia Valley RCMP an attempted fraud through a fake Canada Revenue Agency account (CRA). An e-mail from a fraudulent CRA generated e-mail had been received by the complainant. The e-mail then brought the complainant to a very real looking CRA website to input their Social Insurance Number (SIN) number, name, credit card information, home address etc. The complainant entered their SIN number but then started to get suspicious so thought better and did not input any further information.
A police investigator viewed the website which looked very real with links to numerous Government of Canada websites and contact numbers. The contact numbers did not work when tried and the police investigator was hung up on when a call taker picked up through one of the contact numbers. The Canadian Anti Fraud Centre was advised but very busy as this has been a very common scam to date.
Please pass along tips…
Just wished to pass along a very small sample of some of the things happening criminally around the valley. If you wish to have any information that you wish to share that can help your community and police please call direct or if you wish to be anonymous one can utilize the Crime Stoppers TIPS line.
