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Crime
Kelowna family devastated as keepsakes, presents stolen days before Christmas
KELOWNA – When Jenny Beston got home from work Monday evening, an RCMP officer was standing outside her open front door. And her heart sank. Her first thought was that something terrible happened. Her husband Jason is working out of town and as far as she knew, her two kids, ages eight and five, were...
Christmas grinch steals holiday display from senior couple
KAMLOOPS - Brenda Leblanc and her family will celebrate Christmas this year without their favourite holiday decoration because someone stole their inflatable snow globe from their front yard in Brock Estates last Sunday. “It was one of a kind,” Leblanc says. “We’ve never seen another one like it.” The six-foot tall inflatable display has Santa,...
Oliver job site raided by thieves
OLIVER – The RCMP in Oliver are asking for the public’s help to find those responsible for stealing $13,500 worth of equipment. Police say thieves raided the job site in the 4300-block of Black Sage Road overnight between Wednesday, Dec. 17 and Thursday, Dec. 18. The crooks got away with 600 litres of diesel fuel,...
UPDATE: Masked thieves hit storage lockers in Sun Rivers
HAVE POLICE RECOVERED YOUR STUFF? KAMLOOPS — Police are looking for three people wearing masks who broke into several storage units in Sun Rivers early this morning. Police say the thieves got into 16 storage lockers in the storage rooms for three apartments on Talasa Way. They used bolt cutters to open the lockers but...
UPDATE: Matthew Foerster guilty for earlier attacks against women
KELOWNA - Seven years before Matthew Foerster murdered Armstrong teen Taylor Van Diest, he snuck into a young Cherryville woman’s home, knocked her head against a wall and told her to come with him. Details about the 2004 assault, and a subsequent attack involving a sex-trade worker in 2005, were revealed during a sentence hearing...
UPDATE: Bank robbery suspect turns himself in to Kelowna RCMP
KELOWNA – A man wanted in connection with a Kelowna bank robbery turned himself into police Thursday night. Rory Richard Feeney, 31, was identified as the man who allegedly demanded money from a teller at the downtown branch of the TD Bank on Tuesday, according to RCMP. Police say no weapon was used, no one...
Vernon judge comes down hard on missionary’s ‘corrective’ child beatings
“WHEN CONDUCT BASED ON RELIGIOUS BELIEFS IS CONTRARY WITH THE CRIMINAL CODE OF CANADA, THE CRIMINAL CODE MUST PREVAIL”: JUDGE VERNON - He said he punished his kids so they would never find themselves tangled up in the criminal justice system, like he is now. The 42-year-old, who met his wife while doing missionary work...
The surprising place Vernon cops discovered a high number of traffic violations
VERNON - Police didn’t have to go far to catch and ticket a dozen drivers for not wearing seat belts. RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk says officers noticed numerous driving infractions right in front of the police station on 30 Street recently and decided to do something about it. “So they did a little road check...
Police seek information in bizarre Kelowna handgun incident
KELOWNA - Police are looking for a man who allegedly pointed a gun at a pair of Okanagan residents and then offered to help them change a tire. The strange incident happened Nov. 4 around 12:30 a.m. at the Willow Park Church parking lot at 439 Highway 33, states a release from the Kelowna RCMP....
Attempted break-and-enter gives Enderby woman a scare
ENDERBY - There were some frightening moments for an Enderby woman last week. RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk says the woman was sleeping in her Larson Avenue home in Enderby around 11 p.m. Dec. 12 when her dog started barking. The motion light went on in the yard, and when she looked out the window, she...
Convicted killer due for sentencing for ramming police car
"IT DOES NOT APPEAR THAT PERIODS OF INCARCERATION HAVE AFFECTED HIM." KELOWNA – A Kelowna man with an extensive criminal history is being sentenced for using a stolen truck to ram a police car as he tried to evade arrest only one year after being released from prison for a 2005 manslaughter conviction. "It was only...
A famous Vernon mural was vandalized, then this happened
"IT WAS AN INCREDIBLE ACT OF YOUTH EMPOWERMENT TO DISCOVER HER CLEANING THE MURAL" VERNON - Without being asked or paid, a young artist took it upon herself to undo the damage a vandal did to one of Vernon’s heritage murals. Marie-Anna Michaud, 19, saw a post by muralist Michelle Loughery on Facebook Monday morning....
Hells Angel sentencing could be postponed until after Christmas
KELOWNA - What was supposed to be a day of final submissions ahead of sentencing has turned into a multi-day examination into the lives of two men convicted of multiple weapons charges. Admitted Hells Angel Joseph Bruce Skreptak and alleged gang associate Cory Montemurro asked to postpone sentencing until early January so they can spend...
Salmon Arm arsonist sentenced to jail time
SALMON ARM - Justice has been served in a devastating arson case out of Salmon Arm. Adam Michael Schultz, 39, torched Pedro’s Fruit Stand in September 2013, burning the popular family business to the ground. He was sentenced in Salmon Arm Provincial Court Monday. At the time he was arrested, police said he was also...
Police watchdog finds no connection between Vernon RCMP officer and injured man
VERNON – The province’s police watchdog says a Vernon RCMP officer had nothing to do with a cyclist getting hurt over the summer. The Independent Investigations Office released its findings into the incident this week, saying there was no relationship between the injury and the actions of the officer. A Vernon RCMP officer attempted to...
West Kelowna hit and run foiled
WEST KELOWNA - A car involved in a three vehicle crash Monday morning in West Kelowna was allegedly fleeing from police. Officers were investigating a suspected stolen vehicle when the driver, who did not have insurance left the scene and crashed into three other vehicles according to an RCMP media release. The incident happened at...
Police have identified suspect with potential links to 13 break and enters
KAMLOOPS – Mounties identified one suspect and are searching for a second involved in 13 break-ins of Aberdeen and Sahali area businesses in November. The businesses were broken into the night of Nov. 13 and early morning hours of Nov. 14. Cheryl Bush, a spokesperson for the Kamloops RCMP says the two individuals entered the...
Accused in home invasion released on bail
KAMLOOPS – One of the accused charged in a North Shore home invasion was released on bail Monday afternoon. Kamloops Provincial Court Judge Len Marchand released Jason Joseph Robertson on a $100,000 bail on the conditions that he not contact any resident of the home and be available to his probation officer. Robertson and Steven...
Native court workers protest for equal pay
OKANAGAN - Native court workers are standing up against the government asking for equal pay after being cut out of a deal five years ago that increased the wages of others but not court workers. Jack Kruger, a veteran native court worker and counsellor, has spent the past two days outside the Penticton and Kelowna...
Charges laid in Kamloops home invasion
KAMLOOPS - Two suspects have been charged with break and enter and forcible confinement in connection to a home invasion in Kamloops in March. Steven John Insua and Jason Joseph Robertson made an appearance in Kamloops court Thursday morning. The two men are accused of holding the people living in the home in the 700 block...
Penticton woman at large from Abbotsford prison
PENTICTON - A warrant has been issued for a Penticton woman incarcerated at the Fraser Valley Institute for Women when she failed to return to the prison following an authorized leave of absence. Amanda Sach, 24, has been missing since November 15, 2014 after she failed to return to the prison. Abbotsford Police issued a...
19-year-old added to sex offender registry for drunk actions
PENTICTON - A young man will serve a conditional sentence in the community after he pleaded guilty to sexual assault and unlawfully entering a home. In October 2013, a complaint was made against Justin M. Cantelon, 19, that Cantelon had entered her bedroom window over the weekend and sexually assaulted her. Cantelon had been at...
“Your bomb-making days are over:” Judge
PENTICTON - A Penticton man who made a pipe bomb that accidentally exploded in June will pay a fine, rather than serve time in prison. Matthew Steven Nason, born in 1976, was charged with making an explosive and dangerously storing firearms. The homemade pipe bomb he constructed using “highly volatile explosives” exploded on June 5,...
Ten break-and-enters in Sahali and Aberdeen overnight, RCMP searching for suspects
KAMLOOPS – The RCMP is investigating and tracking suspects after ten break-and-enter cases that occurred in Sahali and Aberdeen during the early Friday morning hours. A stolen white F350 pickup truck was involved in the case Cpl. Cheryl Bush said in a media release. It was later recovered in the Rogers Way area. Bush said...