WESTLOCK – A 31-year-old Surgeon County man faces a laundry list of charges, including a handful of serious weapons offences, after police say they caught him in the middle of committing a break-and-enter near the Hamlet of Vimy Thursday night.
Westlock RCMP Detachment acting commander Cpl. Riley Sutherland said that at around 7:10 p.m., June 22, they were alerted to an in-progress B&E at a rural home southeast of Vimy. Following a short pursuit, the masked suspect eventually ditched the stolen Dodge pickup truck he had been piloting and fled on foot. Sutherland said the RCMP dog services were then called in and the man was arrested and is “currently being held in custody awaiting a bail hearing.”
Sutherland said the man, who can’t be named until after the bail hearing, faces charges of break and enter, possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000, possession of break-in tools, flight from police, resisting a peace officer, mischief to property, unauthorized possession of a firearm, possession of a firearm when unauthorized, possession of a firearm in a motor vehicle, unsafe storage of a firearm, disguised with intent to commit an offence, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, disobeying an order of the court (driving while under a condition not to do so), failing to comply with conditions of an undertaking and possession of weapons contrary to a previous court order.
Depending on the outcome of the bail hearing, Sutherland said she expects the man will make his first appearance in Westlock Court of Justice June 28.
