A string of vehicle thefts around northeast Alberta – including three from Boyle alone – have led to two arrests, leaving police looking for clues for others who may be involved.
According to an RCMP press release, a male suspect who cannot be named has been charged with one count of theft under $5,000 in Westlock, one theft over $5,000 in Athabasca and one theft of a motor vehicle in Barrhead. A charge for theft over $5,000 out of Boyle is pending.
The 38-year-old was apprehended after a stolen vehicle was found in Boyle, according to Boyle RCMP Staff Sgt. John Spaans.
On Sept. 8, police were alerted to a vehicle that had been stuck at an oil lease site northwest of Boyle. Police attended the scene and determined the vehicle had been stolen in Slave Lake on Sept. 7.
“(The oil workers) said they could hear people in the woods around the truck,” said Boyle RCMP Staff Sgt. John Spaans in an interview. “To us, it was a fresh abandoning of a vehicle. We couldn’t find them initially, but some ‘passer byers’ said they saw a man and woman walking on one of the range roads.”
Spaans said they found the male and female wandering around a nearby farm yard, “looking for another vehicle to steal.” He noted that the two individuals were taken into custody without incident.
Charges for possession of a controlled substance are pending for the 36-year-old female.
According to Spaans, this is one of five vehicle theft incidents reported in the Boyle area Sept. 4-8.
According to an RCMP press release, in the evening of Sept. 4 or the early hours of Sept. 5, a Hyundai Elantra was stolen from a Boyle residence and was later recovered after being submerged in the Athabasca River.
The release also stated that on Sept. 6, two vehicles were reported stolen from a business near Boyle. The first was a 2008 Ford pickup truck, which was later recovered near Hope Lake on Sept. 7. The second was a 2014 burgundy 2014 Dodge Ram half-ton, which still remains missing.
The release stated that also on Sept. 6, the Boyle RCMP recovered a Chevrolet Silverado near Long Lake Provincial Park. The truck had been reported stolen from Fort Saskatchewan on Sept. 4.
Spaans said he hopes the two suspects will provide information regarding these four other vehicle thefts.
“Knowing who these two people are associated to and who their associates are associated to – they’re all frequent names that come to property-related crimes,” he said. “It wouldn’t surprise me if those other vehicles are involved with that same group.”
He said he suspects that the thefts of the vehicles were related to people needing “to get around and feed their habit.”
“When we’re talking about substance abuse and that sort of thing it seems like – at least with the case that we were dealing with yesterday – it’s almost a matter of desperation,” he said.
