The city's RCMP Crime Reduction Unit (CRU) claim they have caught two auto thieves in the act in less than 24 hours. In both cases the vehicles had been missing less than a day.
On Thursday a resident called police to report their Toyota Tacoma pickup stolen from their home in the 3900 block of 15th Avenue. General duty members take on such cases as a matter of course, but the CRU specializes in stolen vehicles (among some other crimes) and joined the investigation.
"At approximately 12:30 p.m. on the same day, members of the [CRU] located the stolen truck in a parking lot located on the 1600 block of Victoria Street," said Prince George RCMP spokesman Cpl. Craig Douglass. "The suspect exited the truck and the police officers converged on him. Although the suspect resisted, he was taken into custody with the assistance of police service dog Azar and his handler."
Arrested and charged was Michal Adam Matus, 37, of Prince George. Two adult females that were located in the vehicle were also arrested, but later released without charges.
Douglass added that medical attention for Matus was not required, following the dog's intervention.
About 24 hours after the first report, another resident called police reporting their vehicle stolen from their home, this time a Ford F-150 taken from the 3600 block of Pinewood Avenue.
In identical fashion to Thursday, both general duty and CRU members joined in the search and before noon they spotted their quarry. The vehicle was in the parking lot of an apartment complex. It was occupied.
"The alleged driver of the vehicle, 41-year-old Dorian Shane McCrea of Prince George, was arrested without incident," said Douglass. Also arrested on suspicion of helping in the alleged theft was a 30-year-old female. Her role is still undetermined but part of the ongoing investigation.
Douglass said it was an unusual flurry of activity for the CRU, which is tasked primarily with auto theft and break-and-enter incidents as their main investigations (due to those being foundation crimes in the overall drug industry). Their other area of emphasis is the long list of chronic offenders who tend to do these particular brands of crime.
"The CRU went actively looking for these particular vehicles, found them, and were able to make arrests that led to charges being laid against people already known to police," said Douglass. "We can go days without any vehicle thefts, we can have a handful in a single day. It quite often depends on who is or is not in jail, and that does play a role in our investigations. That team puts their focus on individuals and trends."
If you have any information about these cases or any other offense, please contact the Prince George RCMP at (250)561-3300 or anonymously contact Crime Stoppers at 1(800)222-TIPS (8477), online at www.pgcrimestoppers.bc.ca, or Text-A-Tip to CRIMES using keyword "pgtips".
