Nine vehicles stolen this past week in Bonnyville

The Bonnyville RCMP received nine different reports of stolen vehicles this past week. 

From Feb. 2-10, nine vehicles were stolen and only four have been recovered leaving five outstanding. 

February 3 at 8:00 a.m., a beige 2000 Chevrolet Silverado with a black hood and green box, no licence plate was stolen from the 4000 block of 46 Ave. 

February 5 overnight, a white Ford F150 bearing licence plate BRT2944 was stolen from the Vezeau Beach area. 

February 6 overnight, a 2015 blue Chevrolet Cruze bearing licence plate BSF3859 was stolen from the 4900 block of 52 street. 

February 8, between 6:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., a grey 2000 GMC Sierra bearing licence plate CGY7495 was stolen from the 4700 block of 51 Ave.

February 10, at 8:30 a.m., a 2013 black Dodge Ram truck bearing licence plate CHG0175 was stolen from a business on 54 Ave. A white car was noted on video surveillance scoping out the yard and dropped off the culprit who stole the truck. A black pickup truck is also believed to have been involved as a lookout. 

All vehicles listed above remain outstanding. 

Five out of the nine thefts, 56 per cent, were facilitated by the fact that the vehicle was either left running with the keys inside, or the keys were made easily accessible to the culprit. 

Suspect Feb 10 Dodge Theft

All images submitted by Bonnyville RCMP.

From Feb. 2-6, the Bonnyville RCMP participated in the province-wide initiative Operation Cold Start. The purpose was to locate running vehicles between the hours of 5:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. and determine whether those idling vehicles were locked or unlocked and if they had keys in them or not. 

Registered owners were then followed up with to discuss preventative steps they can take to avoid theft of their vehicles. 

During the five-day operation, 28 vehicles were idling, unlocked with the keys inside and 57 vehicles were found idling, locked with the keys inside. 

While conducting this operation, one of the Bonnyville members located a stolen vehicle left idling by the culprit that had presumably stolen it.

Thieves often cruise around in a vehicle looking for idling vehicles and the driver will pull up to it, the occupant will hop out of their vehicle and into an unsuspecting victim’s and drive away. 

Victims may have intended to leave their vehicle idling for only a few minutes while they run into a business, but that’s all it takes for a criminal to take advantage.