A 28-year-old Chilliwack man is facing charges in connection with a dozen robberies in Chilliwack and Abbotsford over the holiday season.
Scott Kuebeck’s alleged crime spree began Dec. 19 and ended with his arrest on New Year’s Day in Abbotsford, where he remains in custody.
The incidents began on Dec. 19 at around 4 p.m. when general duty Mounties supported by the Lower Mainland Integrated Police Dog Section responded to a complaint of a robbery in the 9200-block of Young Road.
Witnesses say a man demanded money from an employee and ran away with the stolen cash. Police cordoned off the address and began searching but did not find a suspect.
Then between Dec. 26 and 30 the alleged suspect was busy. RCMP investigators spent the post-Christmas days looking into eight robberies of businesses, a number of them banks.
Video surveillance footage helped police quickly link the nine Chilliwack robberies to ones under investigation by the Abbotsford Police Department (APD).
“Our investigators worked closely with the Abbotsford police to identify a 28-year-old man from Chilliwack as the suspect,” said Cpl. Kyle Warner of the Chilliwack RCMP.
On Jan. 1, Kuebeck was arrested in Abbotsford where is charged with robbing a hair salon, a hotel and a jewelry store in Sevenoaks Shopping Centre.
So far, he faces one charge of robbery in Chilliwack from the Dec. 19 incident but RCMP have submitted a report to Crown counsel to assess for more charges.
“The RCMP Serious Crime Unit have taken conduct of the robbery investigations in Chilliwack,” Chilliwack RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Mike Rail said. “The Chilliwack RCMP and APD work together to apprehend individuals who travel between our communities to commit crime”.
Kuebeck has an extensive criminal record dating back to 2010 from Abbotsford, Surrey, Nanaimo, Duncan and Victoria.
His most serious conviction was a sentence of 320 days in jail for a robbery in Duncan in 2012. At the age of 22, Kuebeck was in the news in 2011 when he was caught red-handed amidst a home invasion robbery in Saanich.
He is next due in court Jan. 26 in Abbotsford to face, at least, four robbery charges.
– with files from Vikki Hopes, Abbotsford News
paul.henderson@theprogress.com
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