Below is the Crimebeat for February 14 to 27th. Prince Rupert RCMP had 335 calls for service during this time.
On February 17, some members we were sitting in Tim Horton’s having a coffee. I know, I know, but it’s a great story so keep reading. The members were approached by an elderly lady. The lady turned over a blue wallet containing a significant amount of cash (almost $2000) to the members. She indicated she had found the wallet in the Prince Rupert Mall in November 2010. The following day, she took the wallet home to Masset and now returned it to police nearly four months later. The lady had conducted some enquiries with the bank and locally here in Prince Rupert trying to locate the owner herself, but was unsuccessful. After a short investigation, Prince Rupert RCMP located the rightful owner and reunited her with her wallet containing the nearly $2000 cash inside. The Prince Rupert RCMP would like to recognize Winnifed (Winnie) Josephine Smith of Masset, BC, for her honesty and compassion for others by returning the wallet and cash. We definitely need people like this in our communities and you do not hear of great stories like this one very often. Ahh a feel good story, now who says we aren’t working when we are having a quick warm-up in Tim Horton’s?
On February 14, Prince Rupert RCMP was dispatched to the 200 block of 5th Ave. East where a tall, slim, Caucasian male wearing a bright blue hoody was seen lurking around the neighbourhood looking into garages and vehicles in broad day light. Members attended and did not locate the male, and no items were reported missing. Similar reports were made in the 500 block of 9th Ave.West on February 27. The top three items stolen from vehicles are Ipods, cash including wallets, and cell phones. This does not mean other items such as, CDs, satellite radios, GPS units, bags and clothing are safe to leave in your vehicle. Please remember to lock your doors and do not leave ANY valuables in your vehicle. Unfortunately there are people in our community who will steal anything.
Of recent there have been several complaints of logging truck drivers and semi-truck drivers running the stop sign at Legaic Road and Highway 16. For those of you who drive by landmarks, I am speaking of the stop sign at the industrial park coming onto Highway 16. It is for everyone’s safety that a stop sign is at this intersection to prevent accidents from occurring. It only takes a few more seconds to come to a complete stop instead of driving right through. You can guarantee extra enforcement will be done in the area. If saving a few seconds of your time by running the stop sign is worth the $167 fine, then you are making too much money.
On February 19, a gas powered Harley Sportster black motorized mens mountain bike with a 49 CC Engine and 1200 watt champion generator was stolen from the 1400 block of 6th Avenue East. It appears spring has sprung and bicycle thefts are back. This is a reminder to lock up your sheds, homes and cars to keep thieves out. If anyone has seen or knows anything about this stolen property you are asked to call the Prince Rupert RCMP or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.
Through the month of October 2010, Prince Rupert was hit by a rash of break and enters to cars and homes throughout the Gull Crescent area and the Westside of town. Investigators have recovered various items from those crimes and would like to turn them over to the rightful owners. If you were one of the unfortunate persons to be a victim of one of these crimes and have the serial number to any of your missing property or can describe any identifying marks on the property we would like you to please attend the Prince Rupert RCMP Detachment to claim your belongings.
The Prince Rupert RCMP needs your help in identifying each of this individual for questioning in an investigation. If you recognize this individual, you are asked to contact the Prince Rupert RCMP or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222- TIPS.
On February 16 and 18 my Crime beat was published in the View. Within that write up I told you that James Robert Lucky Bourgeois was arrested and held in custody for Possession for the Purpose of Trafficking a controlled substance. What I failed to mention was that this individual is 31 years old, and is named James Robert Bourgeois Junior, also known to the police as James Robert Lucky Bourgeois. HOWEVER Junior is not to be confused with his father James Robert Bourgeois Senior. Mr. BourgeoisSenior, I extend my apologizes for the troubles this small but significant error has caused you. And one other clarification I would like to make is that James Robert Bourgeois Junior had his name released with this story because an Information for the charges against him had been sworn. Once an Information is sworn the name of the person being charged can be made public. For now on, I will try and update you with names of persons charged from previous stories highlighted in the Crime beat, after all it is public information.