Several people are facing a litany of charges after a crime spree that included an alleged kidnapping, several stolen vehicles, buildings being rammed and a police chase on a highway in eastern Alberta.
It all went down on Thursday, Feb. 8 in small communities in and around Elk Point and St. Paul, which are about 200 kilometres east of Edmonton.
Murray Phillips, reeve of the County of Two Hills, said people in his area are fed up with rural crime that he feels are being perpetuated by the same people.
“A lot of our problems are with repeat offenders. It’s a big concern throughout Alberta,” Murray said on Tuesday. “There’s got to be a big change to the judicial system because it seems like these individuals are caught and released very, very quickly. A lot of them have multiple criminal charges and criminal history against them, and yet they’re the ones involved in the next incident.”
The incident in question last week affected many people and businesses, he said.
“The path of destruction from one end of our county to the other — there’s a lot of dollars damage here affecting a lot of people.”
RCMP said they were initially dispatched around 3 p.m. to reports of a vehicle theft and a kidnapping in Elk Point.
Police said a man was sleeping in the backseat of an SUV when it was stolen from a gas station.
“The victim awoke to see a stranger driving the SUV and requested the suspect to stop, which he did not. The victim was able to escape when the suspect reduced speed in attempts to change his direction of travel,” said a RCMP news release issued on Tuesday.
Police said several other suspects appeared to have helped with the SUV theft. A suspect vehicle was found 45 kilometres south in the hamlet of Clandonald, where RCMP said officers arrested three suspects without any issue.
The situation only escalated from there.
In the same time frame, RCMP responded to break-ins at two other small communities south of Elk Point: Derwent and Beauvallon.
Police said the stolen SUV drove through a shop in Derwent, causing significant damage, and did the same to a home in Beauvallon, nearly striking a resident.
RCMP responded to the house and attempted to arrest the suspect, but police said the suspect stole a different SUV from the property and got away.
Mounties continued to pursue the alleged thief, who police said then stole a pickup truck that was left running outside a shop.
Police rammed the stolen truck to stop it from getting away, at which point RCMP said the suspect went inside the shop and stole a second pickup truck, with a utility trailer attached, that was parked inside.
“The suspect proceeded to ram police vehicles and escaped by driving through an exterior wall of the building,” police said.
RCMP continued to chase the stolen truck and trailer, which was captured by a police dash camera swerving all over the road (see video player above), until officers from the St. Paul detachment deployed a spike belt and were able to stop the truck north of Saddle Lake Cree Nation.
Phillips said the crime spree was on a whole other level from what people in the County of Two Hills are used to when it comes to crime.
“We’ve had lots of stolen vehicles, we’ve had drugs, we’ve had lots of vandalism, stuff like that. But this one was just about out of a movie — how much destruction and the intensity of the damage across our county.
“It’s at a different level that our community hasn’t seen before.”
Phillips said people in his neck of the woods are upset that the rampage went on as long as it did.
“That’s the biggest question: how did it last so long? How did this not end sooner? That’s the biggest thing — people are having a hard time accepting the amount of damage and the length that this went on.”
People are left to repair the damage, and Phillips said some residents and businesses who have been broken into or vandalized repeatedly are also dealing with insurance increasing or not getting coverage for was lost.
“A lot of these people, on some of these claims, aren’t even using insurance anymore. Cost of living’s high enough for everybody, never mind a loss that you have to replace — and the cost of replacing stuff is just astronomical.
“So yeah, residents are frustrated.”
Preston Leo Halfe, 26, from Goodfish Lake, Alta., has been charged with 22 criminal code offences, including:
- Kidnapping
- Six counts of theft of motor vehicle
- Mischief – causing danger to life
- Two counts of break and enter to residence
- Three counts of mischief over $5,000
Police said the suspect put countless lives at risk on his criminal rampage, “victimizing numerous individuals along the way.”
“The suspect was highly motivated to evade police custody and our members did everything possible to prevent the continuation of the offenses, ensure public safety, and bring this series of events to a timely, safe conclusion,” said Sgt. Bobby Burgess with the St. Paul RCMP.
Kidnapping and vehicle theft charges were also laid against the three other suspects arrested earlier in the day: 26-year-old Bonnyville man Cormac Arden Crawford, Kiyana Diamond Hunter, 25, from Saddle Lake, and Brittany Gosselin-Redcrow, an 18-year-old woman from St. Paul.
News releases issued in recent years confirm both Crawford and Halfe have been previously arrested and charged by RCMP for a range of crimes including theft, weapons possessions, mischief, breaking and entering, and failing to comply with release or probation orders.
Phillips is frustrated to see the same people being accused of the same crimes over and over again.
“All of Alberta is in the same situation. It seems like they get arrested, get a hand slapped, (and) they’re back out.
“It’s a revolving door, it’s a catch-and-release system right now.”
All four people were brought before a justice of the peace.
Crawford, Hunter and Halfe remain behind bars while Gosselin-Redcrow was released on bail with conditions. All are to appear in court in St. Paul on Thursday.
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