On May 6th, RCMP were called to a report of a male refusing to get off a city bus at the stop at the Tri City Mall location. RCMP attended and arrested a 32 year old male, Robin Piche. S/Sgt Jeremie Landry, of the Cold Lake Detachment, says it was from this arrest police learned the Cold Lake man was impersonating a Fort McMurray evacuee.

“It was determined that he had a Fort McMurray wildfire evacuee registration on him. We looked into that further and determined that he was not an evacuee from Fort McMurray, but was intending on financially benefiting from the system.” S/Sgt. Landry says Piche was charged with fraud under $5,000 and remanded into custody until his court date in late May.

“On May 27th, he was sentenced to 29 days jail,” Piche received time served due to him being in custody from his arrest until the court date. Piche was also ordered to pay $100 Victims of Crime surcharge.