Series of vehicle thefts near Alberta’s Smoky Lake have residents feeling unsafe

Residents near Alberta town Smoky Lake are sounding the alarm after a series of vehicle thefts at rural properties.

When Vern Billey woke up on Friday morning, his wife asked him if he moved the truck. He didn’t.

“I looked out the window and the truck was gone,” Bille said.

He is just one of the latest cases of vehicle theft from a rural smoky lake home. But, Billey said it’s not the first time he’s had three trucks stolen in the last three years.

“Give me five minutes and I can probably list about 20 people that have lost their vehicles in the last month and half two months,” Billey added.

Jeremy Loffelbein owns Rudie’s Auto Repair in town and his business was hit by criminals last week.

“My door was ripped off on the front of my shop, so I proceeded to come to work to find the back door here was pushed open,” Loffelbein explained. “Looks like they drove a truck into it to get their bodies into it.”

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Loffelbein said thieves broke in, stole $25,000 worth of tools, keys to other vehicles and two trucks. Two nights later, the thieves came back and used the stolen keys to steal a third vehicle.

“It’s been going on for a month like hard, every day, every week, it’s non-stop,” Loffelbein added.

Now the community is coming together, saying enough is enough.

“People are starting to talk about taking matters into their own hands, it’s not a good thing to be thinking about. We have RCMP, we’re paying for RCMP to take care of this stuff and it’s not happening.”

RCMP officials said they have recently made three arrests and executed a search warrant, noting that in the last year around Smoky Lake, possession of stolen property charges has more than doubled.

“The RCMP are aware of this rash of crime. We have been out there and have been effective in terms of targeting some of these people. We have made arrests,” said Cpl. Troy Savinkoff, Public information officer with RCMP.

Mayor Amy Cherniwchan is encouraging residents to get involved in crime watch, but council is also exploring other options.

“We’re also working regionally to try and hire a peace officer… to help with some of the workload for the minor infractions,” Cherniwchan said.

Billey says that’s not enough, and he’d like to see changes to sentencing rules and more police officers. But, ultimately, he’s just tired of how all the crime makes him feel.

“We don’t feel safe anymore. I think I’d be better off to move to Edmonton,” Billey added.