Rash of attempted truck thefts plague Oliver

PENTICTON – An Oliver thief, or thieves with a penchant for late model Ford pickups in the Park Drive area had little success last week.

Oliver police responded to a number of attempted thefts of pickups in the community last week, followed by a break-in at Tim Hortons.

An Oliver resident reported damage to the ignition of his 2001 Ford F150 truck while curling at the Oliver Curling Rink between noon and 3 p.m. on Jan. 12. He reported a damaged driver’s side door and ignition wires pulled out of the switch on the steering column.

On Jan.14, an Oliver resident from the 6600 block of Park Drive reported another attempted theft on a 2000 Ford F-150, again taking place in the day time hours.

On Jan.17, in the early morning hours, police were alerted to reports of a male, outfitted in black, trying to open vehicles in the 6300 block of Park Drive, once again. Police arrived to ring a black Ford F150 pickup with a damaged door handle. The suspect, known to be in the neighbourhood at the time, managed to elude police.

Again on Jan.17, at 10:30 a.m., police were alerted to yet another attempted theft of a Ford pickup, in which the passenger side door lock had been jimmied.

The feverish epidemic of Ford truck theft attempts seemed to break this week when police responded to a call for a break and enter at Tim Hortons on Jan.19. Police found the store broken into and three cash registers containing a small amount of change gone.

There was one successful pickup truck theft this week in Oliver. A resident from the 6400 block of Wolf Cub Place reported the early morning theft of a 1996 red coloured Dodge pickup and flat deck trailer, also on Jan.19.

The Oliver police are asking for the public’s assistance in solving these incidents. Anyone with information is asked to call the Oliver police detachment at 250-498-3422, or CrimeStoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Steve Arstad at sarstad@infonews.ca or call 250-488-3065. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.