Criminals aren’t usually the kinds of masterminds depicted on TV, but these ones in Kamloops and the Okanagan really didn’t think their crimes through.

The RCMP sends press releases throughout the year, and these ten stories were about some of the dumbest crimes in 2025.

Pair of burglars arrested after Kelowna parkade storage room heist

These burglars in Kelowna didn’t learn their lesson the first time around.

Jason Turner and Jerry Grimson were arrested for a parkade storage room burglary, while out of custody on conditions for similar crimes.

On Nov. 8, Grimson was arrested at his home and Turner fled on foot before getting caught hiding in a nearby shed by Police Dog Services.

Pair of burglars arrested after Kelowna parkade storage room heist | iNFOnews.ca — Jason Turner is one of two men arrested by Kelowna RCMP for burglary. SUBMITTED/RCMP

At the time of the storage room heist, Grimson was on bail with conditions including an electronic monitoring device and Turner had been released from custody with court-imposed conditions for break and entering.

The stolen goods from the storage room were found in Grimson’s yard and returned to their rightful owners.

Suspected thief walked himself into custody at Kelowna cop shop

Michael Scott Miller, 43, went to pick up a friend from jail, but ended up dropping himself off at 12 p.m. on June 12.

Miller showed up to the police station in a white Ford F-350 that was reported stolen from Penticton a week earlier.

Miller was in the waiting area of the police station to pick his friend up from jail when officers found out the truck was reported stolen, and arrested him without incident.

Train hits stolen pickup after chase with RCMP from Sorrento to Sicamous

A lengthy car chase ended when two suspects driving a stolen pickup truck got stuck on train tracks.

Salmon Arm RCMP spotted a stolen white Ford E-250 van on Nov. 26. When officers tried to stop the van it fled.

An hour later, a man reported his father’s Ford F-350 had been stolen, and the white van was left behind.

Police found the stolen pickup, which kicked off a car chase.

The suspects in the truck ran over spike strips deployed by police, losing several tires.

Eventually, the truck turned down a forest service road and got stuck on some train tracks since the truck couldn’t get any traction.

A train hitting a truck at night. — A police vehicle video capture of stolen truck just before being struck by train. SUBMITTED/RCMP

Police got out of their vehicles to arrest the suspects when the train horn blared.

The train was going around 18km/h when it hit the rear driver’s side door of the F-350, spinning it around.

The suspects got out of the truck and fled on foot, but officers caught up quickly and took them into custody. Both suspects were taken to hospital, but neither had any apparent injuries.

Kamloops thieves couldn’t steal car after realizing it was a manual

On May 4, in Kamloops there were two would-be car thieves who robbed someone before trying to steal the victim’s car.

The suspects tried to steal the car, but realized neither of them could drive a vehicle with a manual transmission.

“The suspects robbed the victim of items in their possession, then attempted to steal their vehicle too, but failed when they realized they were unable to drive a standard transmission,” Cpl. Crystal Evelyn said in the press release.

The suspects ended up running down an alleyway on foot.

Graffiti ‘artists’ caught on camera spray painting new Kelowna pedestrian overpass

Top ten dumbest crime stories of 2025 in Okanagan, Kamloops | iNFOnews.ca — The Kelowna RCMP is looking for these two suspects in graffiti incident on Aug. 10, 2025. SUBMITTED / RCMP

Kelowna’s new overpass got an unsanctioned paint job from graffiti artists, and the vandals could have smiled and waved at the security cameras on Aug. 10.

There were two people caught on security camera spray painting several different spots on the new overpass at Harvey Avenue and Richter Street. Around 10 minutes into the tagging spree one of the suspects climbed over the railing and tagged the interior portion of the support structure.

Both suspects took pictures of their graffiti on their phones before leaving the overpass on foot.

Kelowna RCMP search for serial golf course bandit

A suspect in Kelowna stole a new golf set from various golf course pro shops in a string of burglaries in June and July.

The suspect showed up on an e-bike, broke into shops at Shannon Lake Golf Course, Gallagher’s Canyon Golf Club and the Okanagan Golf Club.

“The offender appears to know exactly where they are going as they enter the pro shop, immediately heading to the area of the high-end golf clubs, taking the ones they want, and then quickly departing,” Cpl. Guillaume Tanguay said in a press release.

“All of the items this suspect takes are top of the line clubs including a significant number of Scotty Cameron putters.”

Six girls arrested at downtown Kelowna restaurant after gun report to police

A group of young girls found themselves in hot water when police caught them with a replica handgun, a prohibited weapon and pepper spray.

Kelowna RCMP received a report about a group of girls with a firearm at a restaurant on Bernard Avenue on Feb. 28.

When officers arrived on the scene they took the six girls into custody and seized the replica and the weapons. The girls didn’t use the weapons and they were released to their parents and guardians.

“Provided these are all youth females, no identities or further details of the incident will be disclosed,” Cpl. Michael Gauthier said in the release.

“That being said, the Kelowna RCMP has made it very clear we have zero tolerance for this type of behaviour amongst our youth population, especially incidents including weapons.

“We will be recommending criminal charges for more than one of these youth females, however most importantly ensuring they and their families are all receiving the necessary support services needed to assist them in making better decisions.”

Speeding Kelowna driver using cellphone nearly hit cop on highway

Texting and driving is always a bad idea, but especially when driving past BC Highway Patrol.

A Kelowna man in a BMW nearly struck two BC Highway Patrol officers on Highway 97 and the officers said he was reading a text on his phone at the time on July 16.

The officers were wearing high-visibility vests and carrying stop signs when the man blew past them going 145 km/h in a 110 km/h zone.

“A fully uniformed officer stepped onto the highway to stop the BMW driver. There should have been plenty of time and distance to stop,” BC Highway Patrol’s Cpl. Michael McLaughlin said in the release.

“But it’s hard to see the police when you are reading a text message. That was the driver’s explanation.”

The man ended up with a $708 fine.

Teen with no licence nabbed in Lake Country joyriding in parents’ minivan

A minivan isn’t often the first vehicle people think of when they think of joyriding, but a teenager in Lake Country might disagree.

A 16-year-old took his parents’ minivan and decided to go 160 km/h in a 100 km/h zone without a license and with his friends on the floor in the back next to tools and a lawnmower.

“Many people do not realize that police radar works just as well from behind a police cruiser as it does from the front,” BC Highway Patrol media relations officer Cpl. Michael McLaughlin said in the release.

“In this case, the 16-year-old driver had no driver’s licence, and two of his teenage passengers were lying on the back floor of the minivan next to yard tools and a lawn mower.”

The driver got several tickets adding up to $955 including speeding, no driver’s license, too many passengers and a seven-day vehicle impound.

RCMP catch suspect in Kamloops with a taxi stolen in Hope

A cab was stolen in Hope, then police caught someone driving it in Kamloops, and they weren’t driving a fare.

Officers were called to Battle Street where the stolen Toyota Corolla taxi was seen around 5 a.m. on March 4.

“Police officers attempted a traffic stop of the vehicle on 8 Street, but it allegedly failed to comply and continued southbound,” Kamloops RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Crystal Evelyn said in the release.

“The taxi was located abandoned soon after on Dominion Street.”

The RCMP eventually tracked down the suspect and took him into custody.