Elevate your local knowledge
Sign up for the iNFOnews newsletter today!
Crime
Oliver home engulfed in flames
OLIVER - A home in Oliver was engulfed in flames early Friday morning. Firefighters were able to take control of the blaze and prevent it from spreading to neighbouring houses. Police said the home at 6036 Station Street was unoccupied and and it does not appear that anyone was hurt. Police are investigating the fire...
Suspects remain unidentified in attempted ATM theft
OLIVER - A local service station was broken into Thursday and police are looking to identify three suspects. At 4:21 a.m. Thursday morning, an older model green Dodge diesel flat deck pick up drove up to the service station with three men inside. Two of the men made a “brazen” attempt to steal the ATM...
Residents congregate on Facebook to stop neighbourhood drug activity
PENTICTON - Residents have taken their concerns about alleged drug activity at a house in Penticton to Facebook, creating a page where members of the community can discuss the problem that often draws police attention, but has yet to be resolved. Handfuls of residents have posted to the Facebook page “Shut down the crack house”...
Oliver RCMP need help identifying robbery suspects
OLIVER - RCMP are looking to identify two men following a store robbery on July 30 in Oliver. The men allegedly stole a 32 inch television from the store and left in an older model white Jeep Cherokee with a female driver. No licence plate was recorded. The first suspect is described as a Caucasian...
Police identify man found dead on Skaha Lake Road
PENTICTON - RCMP have identified a man found dead along Skaha Lake Road early Tuesday morning. He was Scott Michaud, 28, of Penticton. Michaud was found lying in the south bound curb lane on Skaha Lake Road near Lee Avenue. Police say Michaud's injuries are consistent with being struck by a vehicle and it appears...
Border control busy with firearms smugglers
OSOYOOS - Two men have been charged in separate cases for smuggling firearms and weapons across the Canada-U.S. border at Osoyoos and Cascade ports of entry. Osoyoos border officers arrested Cole Phillips after they seized a loaded .45 caliber handgun from a U.S. resident’s vehicle during a secondary exam on July 21. Phillips was charged...
Psychologist: Ex-city councillor has narcissistic personality disorder
PENTICTON - Former city councillor Gary A. Leaman, who pleaded guilty of sexual assault, tested high on a court-ordered psychiatric exam for narcissistic personality disorder. Nalini Joneja, a clinical psychologist with Forensic Psychiatric Services was questioned by Crown prosecutor Catherine Crockett and defence counsel Michael Welsh on her report of the psychiatric exam done in...
Fraud Alert: City not calling residents about survey
PENTICTON - The city is advising residents to be aware of fraudulent phone calls asking people to participate in a non existing “environmental survey.” The city is not calling residents to partake in a survey at this time. Reportedly the caller is being very persistent, phoning residents several times in a day saying they are...
RCMP: Pressure for emergency services reaches unprecedented level over long weekend
PENTICTON - RCMP said the pressure Boonstock put on emergency services over the long weekend was taken to unprecedented levels. In a statement released Wednesday, Const. Kris Clark said the large number of overdoses and the death of a 24-year-old Alberta woman caused “alarm for the overwhelmed emergency and security operations”. RCMP provided additional resources...
Victim of suspected overdose identified
PENTICTON – The 24-year-old woman who died of a suspected overdose at Boonstock on Friday…
Two Boonstock security guards fired for attempted liquor theft
PENTICTON - Two 24-7 Security employees appear to have been fired after they were were caught on security camera allegedly trying to steal liquor from Last Call Liquor Mart on Saturday. Navneet Dhaliwal, a principal at the company in control of Boonstock's security, posted to Facebook that the two men have been fired. "We need...
BOONSTOCK: 24-year-old woman dies of suspected drug overdose
PENTICTON – A Boonstock attendee died from an overdose Friday night after being taken to…
Osoyoos RCMP deal with vehicle-related crime
OSOYOOS - Osoyoos RCMP had a weekend full of vehicle-related crimes, varying from car accidents to drug possession. On Saturday, July 26 a vehicle pulling a boat hit a deer while driving on Highway 3. The car was pushed from the right lane to the left, and another car heading in the fast lane was...
Fake gun triggers RCMP response downtown
KAMLOOPS – There was swift action downtown this morning after RCMP received a call that a man was walking near Interior Savings Centre with a sawed-off shotgun. The report came in just before 10 a.m. and soon after officers discovered the man with two others behind the building located near the corner of 3 Avenue...
IN PHOTOS: Street art of downtown Penticton
PENTICTON - There are a handful of ways to deal with the city's tagging problem, and city officials are looking into them and will hopefully have a decision sooner rather than later as to how the problem can be fixed. In the meantime, here are some photos from around downtown Penticton of murals, graffiti and...
Council looks at options to end the city’s tagging problem
PENTICTON - An end to tagging in downtown Penticton may be just around the corner, so long as council can agree on a feasible and effective plan to eradicate the vandalism. City Council was presented Monday with several solutions to the tagging problem that received a lot of attention in the spring. Already there are...
Kamloops man gets six months in jail for killing pedestrian
KAMLOOPS – A Kamloops man was handed a jail sentence today for hitting and killing a pedestrian while driving without a licence. Donald Charles Isadore, born 1950, showed little reaction in Kamloops Provincial Court when Judge Stella Frame told him he would be serving jail time for his repeated instances of unlicenced driving. He never...
Date set for Snelson retrial
KAMLOOPS – After several delays and a successful bail, a date has been set for Neil George Snelson’s re-trial. Snelson, 47, was already tried and convicted of manslaughter in the death of Jennifer Cusworth in 2011. He appealed his conviction and won a second trial set to take place in Kamloops Supreme Court next year....
Heroin withdrawal won’t get plea withdrawal
KAMLOOPS – A Kamloops Supreme Court judge turned down a man’s application to withdraw his guilty pleas after claiming his plea was to get out of jail long enough to obtain heroin and see his dog. Last November, James Arthur Bellerose, born 1976, pleaded guilty to possession charges in front of a supreme court judge....
Police continue search for evidence after cyclist shooting
SPENCES BRIDGE – Police are searching for evidence relating to the investigation of a shooting which injured a Burnaby cyclist during the Cache Creek 600 cycling marathon. Craig Premack, 59, was shot on the side of the highway near Spences Bridge when he was biking the overnight marathon around 1 a.m. on June 1. The suspect allegedly...
Judge ignores sentence recommendation from both sides on assaults, head shavings
KAMLOOPS – Wearing a green sweater in the prisoner's dock, a Kamloops woman met her sentence hearing Tuesday afternoon by crying long, hard silent sobs into a tissue. Before Justice Ian Meiklem arrived to decide her fate, she and her mother told one another: “I love you.” Meiklem handed Mary Lynn Dyson, 30, a three-year...
RCMP bringing out Gator for hot temperatures
KAMLOOPS - Expect to see officers patrolling beaches and streets with the gator when it's too hot for bike patrol. "Our bike officers are probably choosing to ride that rather than bikes (Tuesday afternooon)," Cpl. Cheryl Bush said in a press conference earlier this week. A Gator is a smaller vehicle, similar to a golf...
Swinging wood in the parking lot leads to arrest
KAMLOOPS – Police members have a 37-year-old man in custody after he was arrested for mischief Wednesday morning. The male was reported to be swinging a large piece of wood around in the Seymour 7-Eleven location parking lot. He also reportedly yelled and struck the side of a delivery truck with the wood. When RCMP...
Story of Lytton manslaughter comes to close 15 years later
KAMLOOPS - A man who beat his friend to death and successfully hid the body in a shallow grave for nearly 13 years before finally being discovered, was sentenced to nearly eight year in jail, in Kamloops Supreme Court Tuesday afternoon. Earlier this year, a jury convicted William Robert Smith, born 1967, of beating Sandy...