A Vernon man is facing theft charges after allegedly being caught red-handed with the stolen goods.
Kevin Barkhouse’s truck was broken into while parked on L & A Road in Vernon sometime between Sunday night and Monday morning. Police say a number of items were taken from the vehicle including a wallet, jacket and gloves.
On Monday morning, Barkhouse and his brother decided to drive to local pawn shops to see if they could recover any of the stolen goods. Near the intersection of 37th Avenue and 27th Street, Barkhouse noticed two men, one of whom appeared to be wearing his stolen jacket.
Barkhouse confronted the man about where he got the coat. Barkhouse says the man claimed he got the jacket from a second hand store weeks ago. Barkhouse says he asked the men to empty their bags for him.
“They were completely cooperating with me 100 per cent, taking their stuff out of the bag, but wouldn’t take everything out,” said Barkhouse.
Barkhouse says when they wouldn’t fully empty the bags he took matters into his own hands.
“Grabbed the bag, reached in, pulled out a handful of stuff and my wallet was in there,” Barkhouse said.
Barkhouse pinned the man wearing the allegedly stolen jacket down on the sidewalk and Barkhouse’s brother called police. Barkhouse took selfies of himself detaining the suspect.
Barkhouse estimates he held the man down for between five and 10 minutes before police arrived.
“I’ve done martial arts training in the past… so I’m quite capable of restraining somebody if I want to as long as they are not crazy big,” said Barkhouse. “I don’t even think he knew what was happening at the time. I think it was quite the shock to him.”
The wallet and gloves were also recovered.
Police are recommending the 25 year old suspect be charged with a number of offenses including possession of break-in instruments.
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