Clearwater RCMP responded to 23 calls for service this past week including employee theft and a landlord tenant dispute.
On Wednesday, Sept. 18 at 1:33 p.m., a supervisor of one of the local tow companies contacted the Clearwater detachment advising they had just caught one of their employees on camera stealing items from their yard, said Sgt. Grant Simpson, detachment commander for the Clearwater RCMP.
"Const. Van Woudenberg attended and spoke to the supervisor who advised the owner was in the back compound with the 62-year-old employee and they had video footage of him rummaging around the vehicle. The supervisor had worked on it prior and there had seen expensive knives in the door at the time.”
Simpson reported after the employee was seen on video, no one else was near the vehicle and the knives were gone when next checked. “Const. Van Woudenberg spoke to the owner who advised he had found more stolen items, including a tackle box with his name on it and an old family fishing rod. The employee was arrested for theft under, chartered and warned, declining to speak with a lawyer.”
The sergeant added that the employee admitted to stealing the items found but insisted he had not taken the knives. The employee was transported to Peavine Trailer Park at his request and released on an appearance notice. The owner transported his trailer there later that night. “The following day, Const. Van Woudenberg reviewed the surveillance and while the employee is seen going through a vehicle in the shop, nothing is observed being taken. As the owner had already retrieved his belongings and the employee was removed from the property, there was no public interest in proceeding further with charges,” said Simpson.
On Sept 19, 2024, at 10:16 p.m., a 49-year-old local woman called from the 2000 block of McCarthy Creek Road to report that her landlord upstairs, a 68-year-old man, was playing his music loud, and she couldn't hear her television. She initially complained the landlord owed her money for furniture she bought, but when told by dispatch this was civil, she brought up the noise complaint. Sgt. Simpson reported, “While RCMP were en route, the landlord called, claiming the tenant had put her hands around his neck and hit him, and that he would wait outside.”
Sgt. Simpson added “Const. Tobin attended, spoke with the landlord initially, observed him to be intoxicated and have a torn collar on his shirt and a small cut above his left eye, [but] no other marks. He wanted his tenant to be taken to cells. She then insisted no physical altercation had occurred and explained the civil noise issue in her suite. The landlord came down to her suite, now with a very large, obvious cut and blood on his neck that appeared to be added for the purpose of bolstering his claim that she put her hands around his neck as he had no marks before. He was challenged on this and insisted police needed to see how she ‘messed up’ his room. Const. Tobin observed that the common area of the house did not appear to be the scene of any struggle.”
Simpson said that ultimately, the landlord was believed to be lying for the purpose of having the tenant arrested, and continued to do so, so he was arrested/chartered and given a warning for causing public mischief, then resisted by struggling and was lodged in cells. The landlord was held until sober then released on an ‘undertaking to appear.’ He also had a crossbow on his couch which he turned over to RCMP as it is considered a firearm, and the landlord does not possess a firearm's license. Investigation into this matter is ongoing.
