RCMP crest. (Black Press Media files)

Stolen truck found broken down on Highway 97C, Williams Lake suspect arrested near Ashcroft

A security guard first noticed the truck, and thought it looked suspicious

A sharp-eyed security guard is being credited with helping police recover a broken down stolen garden nursery truck along Highway 97C between Logan Lake and Ashcroft this week, which led to the arrest of a 22-year-old Williams Lake suspect walking nearby.

Mounties note that on Tuesday, May 4, 2021 just before 9:30 a.m., Logan Lake RCMP received a report that the security guard for a private company spotted a broken down white Ford F550 dump truck in the northbound lanes of Highway 97C. According to police, the security guard found the situation to be suspicious, noting that the dump truck was covered in decals associating it to a garden nursery based in West Kelowna.

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“The security guard took the exceptional step to contact the business directly and was able to determine that the dump truck had in fact been stolen overnight,” states Cpl. Jesse O’Donaghey, spokesman for the BC RCMP in the Southeast District. “Armed with a description of the suspect who walked away from the dumped stolen dump truck towards Ashcroft, Logan Lake RCMP officers located and arrested him without incident.”

Mounties said they seized items they considered to be break and enter tools upon the man’s arrest, which they determined was in breach of one of his conditions of release related to an incident near Williams Lake.

The suspect was later released from police custody on additional conditions. He faces a number of additional potential charges and is expected to make his first appearance in Merritt Law Courts on July 20, 2021.

RCMP are asking if you witnessed this incident, or have any dash camera footage of the dump truck or the suspect and have not yet spoken to police you are asked to call the Logan Lake RCMP at 250-523-6222.


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Williams Lake Tribune