Monday December 26, 2022 | LANGFORD, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
The West Shore RCMP Crime Reduction Unit (CRU) is wrapping up a several months long investigation into a theft crime spree that began in September 2022, as issued in a news release on December 21.
The unit investigated six separate reports of theft that took place between September and November 2022.
- Five investigations involved break and enter and thefts that took place at a variety of construction sites and businesses located in the West Shore. The majority of the stolen goods were high-value tools.
- The sixth investigation involved a 5-tonne moving truck containing approximately $90,000 worth of personal belongings that had been stolen out of the West Shore and later recovered in the remote town of Shirley (far west of Sooke) with the assistance of Sooke RCMP. “It was a full moving van containing personal belongings of someone who was moving to this area. It was stolen in the transport when the moving van was parked. We were able to recover the van and the personal belongings that had since been off loaded by the thieves,” said Cpl Nancy Saggar, Media Relations Officer, West Shore RCMP.
Locations:
The Crime map below shows the approximate areas of the break-ins and thefts:
Variety of techniques:
Through using a variety of investigative techniques including surveillance, CRU investigators located the stolen moving truck and determined the contents had been taken to a residence near the 2300-block of Sooke Road in Colwood. They also determined all six investigations were linked via the suspects who were working together. This led the Crime Reduction Unit to execute a search warrant for the residence which belonged to one of the suspects.
Investigators uncovered a plethora of stolen items were being stored at this location, including a large amount of the stolen tools from the above mentioned break-ins as well as the personal belongings that were inside the moving truck.
Investigators determined the stolen items were being transported to and from this property using a stolen Chevy Silverado truck which was also recovered by police during the search.
Complex investigation:
This was a complex investigation involving many moving parts. Approximately $200 000 worth of stolen items were reported to police in these investigations. Of that, we were able to recover approximately $100 000 worth of stolen items. Our Crime Reduction Unit tracked down and arrested 3 suspects as well as recovered the stolen property. The majority of the stolen items have been returned to the rightful owners. This investigation is ongoing, and we are still looking for a number of outstanding stolen items, said Cpl. Danny Grieve West Shore RCMP Crime Reduction Unit.
Police are still searching for these outstanding stolen items, photos and descriptions below:
S70 Skid Steer Loader and E20 Excavator Bobcat sitting atop of Flat Deck Trailer were all reported as stolen from Deckadence Construction.
The Bobcat and Skid Steer may still have the Deckadence logo on the body as pictured below:
Seeking information:
If you have information regarding the location of the stolen items listed above, please call the West Shore RCMP at 250-474-2264.
RCMP File # 2022-20154
Arrests:
Police have arrested 36-year-old Nicolas Banks, who has been charged with 4 counts of possession of property obtained by crime sec 354(1) C.C., 2 counts of theft over $5000 334(a) C.C. and 1 count of trafficking stolen property Sec 355.2 C.C.
Two other suspects have also been arrested in connection with this crime spree. A 51-year-old male suspect was arrested for 1 count of trafficking stolen property Sec. 355.2(a) C.C., 3 counts of possession of stolen property Sec. 354(1) C.C., 1 count of mischief to property Sec. 430(4)C.C. and, a 38-year-old female was arrested for 1 count of possession of stolen property Sec 355 C.C. and 1 count of trafficking stolen property Sec 355.2 C.C., all three suspects will appear in court in January 2023.
===== ABOUT ISLAND SOCIAL TRENDS:
Island Social Trends is a professional news service that covers news of the west shore, south Vancouver Island, BC and national issues.
Island Social Trends launched entirely online at islandsocialtrends.ca in mid-2020, in the footsteps of its predecessor publications MapleLine Magazine (2008-2010), Sooke Voice News (2011-2013) and West Shore Voice News (2014-2020).
Editor and publisher: Mary P Brooke