Two people have been arrested in connection with a series of thefts targeting Ford F-150 trucks.
Prince George RCMP had a spike in reports of thefts of after-market equipment and gasoline getting drilled out of gas tanks between December and February. Some of the stolen equipment included tires and rims, light bars and truck-bed tool boxes.
On March 2, there was another report of stolen tires and rims from a truck parked on Panarama Crescent. The following day, a member of the RCMP's crime reduction team found what he believed to be those stolen items on a pick-up parked on the 1500 block of Third Avenue.
Further investigation confirmed those suspicions and a 17-year-old man was arrested for possession of stolen property.
Police seized the suspect's vehicle and further inspection unveiled the truck was stolen from a Prince George home on Feb. 5, displaying a new Vehicle Identification Number and re-registered. An aluminum tool box in the back of the truck was also found to have been stolen on Feb. 13 from another truck at a residence on Liard Drive and a light bar on the front of the truck was stolen Feb. 26 from a truck parked on Quesnel Avenue.
After executing a search warrant on a home in the 1700 block of PG Pulp Mill Road, a second suspect, 25-year-old Shane Paul Parsons, was arrested and stolen property seized.
The name of the 17-year-old cannot be released under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, but he has been charged with:
four counts of possession of property obtained by crime under $5,000
four counts of theft under $5,000
tampering with a Vehicle Identification Number
mischief under $5,000.
The young suspect had his first court appearance Wednesday. He is also facing charges in Quesnel for theft under $5,000 and mischief from the Feb. 11 theft of gasoline in the neighbouring city.
Parsons, a Prince George resident, was released on a recognizance until his April 8 court appearance. He has been charged with:
two counts of possession of property obtained by crime under $5,000
three counts of theft under $5,000
mischief under $5,000.
