A routine vehicle check has resulted in the recovery of thousands of dollars of stolen property by Sunshine Coast RCMP.
On April 16, two members of the RCMP patrolling in the Langdale area stopped a suspicious vehicle for speeding. Police later identified the lone occupant of the vehicle as Brian Kemball, age 29. According to Sgt. Gerry Webb, the vehicle check resulted in the seizure of a small quantity of drugs, three unregistered firearms and several pieces of stolen property. Kemball was arrested and detained in custody.
"Sunshine Coast RCMP were aware of several break-ins that had been reported recently that had occurred in remote areas of the Coast," said Webb. "There were also several boat thefts reported that coincided with and were eventually linked to the break-ins."
Following the arrest of Kemball, police continued their investigation and started piecing together several of the cases.
Between April 17 and 19, police looked into the break-ins and boat thefts and were able to solve the break-ins that had occurred on Gambier Island, Sechelt Inlet, McNabb Creek Estates and Carlson Point. A stolen vehicle was also recovered as a result of the investigation.
On April 19, police executed a search warrant for stolen property at a home in Gibsons and arrested 32-year-old Aaron Urquhart, a known associate of Kemball. The police search of the home resulted in the seizure of hundreds of pieces of evidence including confirmed stolen property.
Both Kemball and Urquhart appeared in Sechelt provincial court on Tuesday, April 21. Kemball has been charged with eight weapons-related offences, 13 offences related to stolen property and break-ins, and one count of possession of a controlled substance. Urquhart has been charged with four counts related to stolen property. Both suspects were remanded in custody and were slated to appear in court again later this week.
Webb said police are continuing to investigate offences related to the cache of stolen property that was seized.
"Identifying the rightful owners of some of the property will be an ongoing process and more charges may be laid as the investigation continues," added Webb.
When Coast Reporter visited the Sechelt detachment Wednesday morning, the evidence shed was packed from wall-to-wall with tools, computer equipment, generators, digital cameras, fishing equipment, even an ATV.
"Some of the break-ins were to summer cabins, so probably most people don't even realize they might be missing anything," said Webb. "We're in the process of trying to identify all of the recovered property and match it up with the rightful owners."
Webb said any resident who has been the victim of a recent theft is invited to contact the detachment at 604-885-2266 to try and recover their property.
"We've had the two people involved under watch for a few weeks and suspected they were responsible for the thefts, but we didn't have grounds to make an arrest," said Webb. "The vehicle stop broke the case wide open. Hopefully these arrests will bring an end to this spree of break-ins."
