THE SECOND of two men who lied to police following the death of another in the Skeena River in 2014 will receive a similar sentence to the first man who was sentenced late last year.
Jesse Fehr, 37, received a conditional discharge followed by probation for 18 months in provincial court here Feb. 15.
On Sept. 22, 2016, Nathan Joseph Heit, 27, was sentenced to a conditional discharge with probation for 18 months.
If both men complete their sentences satisfactorily, they won’t have a criminal record.
Fehr was one of three men who drove a truck belonging to Nathan Heit into the Skeena in the Copper River flats area east of Terrace on Nov. 1, 2014.
He and Heit managed to get back to shore but Dustin Steele, from Red Deer, Alberta, was last seen in the back of the truck as it floated down the river.
Fehr and Heit at first told police the trio had parked the truck and left it running whereupon three men, unknown to them, then drove it into the river.
RCMP officers, skeptical of the story, questioned them and the men eventually admitted that their version of events was untrue.
Fehr and Heit were then charged with obstructing a peace officer, attempting to obstruct justice and making false and misleading statements to police officers.
Search and rescue volunteers from Terrace Search and Rescue and individuals went out for days afterward looking for Steele.
Searchers did find the truck submerged in the river on Nov. 4, 2014, but bad weather and the river’s current prevented its recovery until the morning of Nov. 7, 2014.
In December 2014 searchers returned to look on the shoreline and shallow water areas and found a child seat, and boot believed to have come from the truck, said Terrace Search and Rescue members at that time.
In April 2015, searchers checked out a log jam downriver from where the vehicle went into the water but did not find Steele’s body.
Search and rescue has concluded its search for Steele.
“We have searched the probable areas where he might be and have not located any clues,” said search and rescue president Dwayne Sheppard.
