RCMP in central Alberta say they’ve recovered a “significant amount” of canola and arrested and charged two people after a grain truck suspected in an alleged canola theft was halted by a spike belt.
In a release Tuesday, RCMP at Bashaw — about 80 km northeast of Red Deer, in Camrose County — said they and members of the RCMP’s Central Alberta Crime Reduction Unit (CAD CRU) responded on the morning of Sept. 28 to a report of a “significant amount of canola” stolen from a farm in the county.
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RCMP said they then received a report at about 1:30 that afternoon of “suspicious individuals” attempting to sell canola to a Hutterite colony in the area. That report led the Mounties to locate both a grain truck and a second vehicle suspected in the theft.
The CRU, with Bashaw and Stettler RCMP, “attempted to do a traffic stop” on the grain truck, but its driver failed to stop, police said.
A spike belt was then used to stop the grain truck and its driver was arrested with help from RCMP helicopter and police dog services, police said.
A “significant amount” of canola and a grain auger were recovered in the investigation, RCMP said in their release.
RCMP couldn’t quantify Wednesday exactly how much canola was reported to have been taken at the affected farm or how much of it police recovered, but an RCMP spokesperson said the canola reported missing from the farm had an estimated value of between $7,000 and $8,000.
The driver of the second vehicle was arrested in Mirror, about 20 km southwest of Bashaw, and a loaded 12-gauge shotgun was found in a search of that vehicle, RCMP said.
Jesse MacDonald, 33, and Tristan Ruby, 36, both of Stettler, now face 14 and 16 charges respectively. Both were remanded into custody and have since appeared Tuesday in Provincial Court in Red Deer, RCMP said.
A court representative said both individuals’ cases have been adjourned to Oct. 13 in Provincial Court in Stettler.
Charges against both include trafficking in property obtained by crime and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, RCMP added, noting Ruby also faces nine counts of being unlawfully at large. All charges laid have yet to be proven in court. — Glacier FarmMedia Network
