Reportedly none the worse for wear, all four 2014 Toyota vehicles stolen from the Penticton dealership nearly two weeks ago are now back.
Sgt. Rick Dellebuur of the Penticton RCMP confirmed Monday morning the latest recovery was the bronze Tundra pickup which was spotted in a densely forested area in Lake Country on Friday.
Earlier that day the second RAV4 was discovered in a Kelowna parking lot.
Larry Pidperyhora, the general sales manager and dealership co-owner received a call from a woman Friday and the RCMP in Penticton and Kelowna were contacted about that vehicle’s location.
The other RAV4 was found in Penticton Tuesday Jan. 21 and the Toyota 4Runner was located in a Kelowna parking lot the following day.
According to Dellebuur, no suspects have been arrested in connection with the thefts however he does not feel the caper was as organized as some people first thought.
“It depends on individuals who take them,” he said. “If you get individuals who aren’t quite that experienced, taking vehicles of this type, their biggest problem is what do we do next.
“They (thieves) basically drive them and leave them. they’re just opportunists.”
Also he pointed to the belief two of the vehicles were taken soon after they were delivered to the dealership the night of Jan. 14 and the other two were taken later the following morning at about 6:45 a.m. and were spotted leaving the lot by an employee.
“We’re just going through the information now in hopes arrests will be made soon,” said Dellebuur.
Toyota dealership sales manager Clif Martins was obviously pleased with getting the vehicles back, especially in such good condition.
“Some of them have a couple of extra kilometres on them but basically they’re in the same condition as when they left,” he said. “I’m very surprised I guess we thought it was a bit more organized than it was.”
Martins added changes and upgrades in the security protocols have been made since the theft, and it is not likely to happen again.
Those responsible had somehow managed to obtain the keys after a delivery truck had unloaded the vehicles.
