Midway RCMP have recovered a truck stolen from a Greenwood motel in early September, Cpl. Phil Peters told The Times.
The truck belongs to Penticton Indian Band Councillor Elliott Tonasket, who was staying at the Evening Star Motel when he reported his white 2001 F-350 stolen Tuesday, Sept. 3. Tonasket, who is part of the Syilx First Nation, said his truck had power tools and his ceremonial fasting feather in it at the time.
“It defintely brings some closure to me,” Tonasket said Friday, Nov. 6.
RELATED: Truck stolen in Greenwood held Penticton indigenous owner’s cultural object
My 2001 f-350 was Stolen from the Evening Star Hotel in Greenwood BC between 1:57-2am. If you see please call the RCMP….
Posted by Elliott Tonasket on Thursday, September 3, 2020
Mounties are recommending criminal charges against a 50-year-old Rock Creek man who allegedly bought Tonasket’s truck, according to police.
Peters said Tonasket’s truck was found disguised as a white F-250 by a swapping of the trucks’ quarter-paneling, with a different door bearing a different Vehicle Identification Number (VIN).
Peters said he doubted police would have recovered the truck, had Tonasket relatives not spotted it on Highway 3.
Police arrested the suspect, since conditionally released, at a Rock Creek gas station at around 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 5.
The man is due to appear in court in Grand Forks some time in January 2021, Peters said.
Mounties are recommending charges of possession of stolen property and tampering with a VIN.
Mounties did not recover Tonasket’s fasting feather, according to Peters.
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