Vehicle stolen in Nanaimo found in Ucluelet

A man and a woman who fled from Pacific Rim National Park staff after being caught camping illegally turned out to be linked to a stolen vehicle.

The vehicle was stolen in Nanaimo on May 8 and found parked on the side of the Pacific Rim Highway near Long Beach on May 11.

Sgt. Jeff Swann of the Ucluelet RCMP said no one was in, or around, the stolen vehicle when it was located but while police were investigating, Park wardens were pursuing two illegal campers,

Swann said both campers gave false names to the wardens before running away.

Wardens quickly nabbed the fleeing woman but the man was able to temporarily escape and lasted about 40 minutes on the lam before being captured by police, according to Swann who said RCMP from Tofino, Ahousaht and Ucluelet joined in the search.

“In Partnership with the Park and all three detachments on the West Coast...we were able to locate both suspects and we were able to link them to that stolen vehicle as well as another break-in in Nanaimo,” Swann said.

He said both offenders were from out of town and face future court dates in Duncan.

Suspect identified in last week’s car thefts

A suspect has been identified in connection with two stolen vehicles in Ucluelet.

As was reported in last week’s Westerly, a car thief stole two vehicles and crashed both during a crime spree that began around 3 a.m. on May 11 and included the theft of two wallets from two unlocked vehicles.

“We have a suspect that we are investigating,” Sgt. Swann said. “We’re putting the pieces together.”

Because the investigation is ongoing, Swann could not comment further on the case though he did confirm the suspect is from out of town.

“It was not a local citizen involved,” he said.

Young shoplifter goes through Restorative Justice

A minor was caught shoplifting from a local grocery store last week and will be put through Ucluelet’s Restorative Justice program.

“The Restorative Justice program is a phenomenal program,” Sgt. Swann said.

“I have seen tremendous success from Restorative Justice. We’ve got some great, trained, local people in our community who volunteer their time to speak to people who have committed a crime and they work towards making sure they don’t do that again.”

Andrew.bailey@westerlynews.ca