A rural Manitoba farmer says he’s feeling unnerved and frustrated after his farm was one of three west of Portage la Prairie that was robbed on the weekend.
Dean Toews told 680 CJOB’s The Start that this most recent event is at least the sixth time his property has been hit by robbers.
Manitoba RCMP say they’re looking into the weekend incidents, which involved a group of armed suspects accused of stealing a range of items, including ATVs, power tools and a pickup truck.
Toews said crime in rural Manitoba seems never-ending lately.
“You’re kind of always on the edge of paranoid of what’s potentially going to be taken — you don’t want to have easy targets out in the open,” he said.
“We try to keep things indoors and out of sight as much as possible.”
Police said the incidents took place between 3:30 and 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, and that they’ve linked each crime to the same group of suspects.
RCMP provided victim descriptions of a vehicle suspected of being involved in the crimes to the counterparts at the Manitoba First Nations Police Service, who arrested a 17-year-old girl from Sandy Bay First Nation, but other suspects remain at large.
Although no one was injured in the robberies, Toews said it was a scary situation for his family.
“My parents are living on the yard there, so that’s a little unnerving for them,” he said.
“We had cameras installed after previous thefts, but the last time they managed to find our security system … and they took everything, so we didn’t get a recording.”
Despite the crime spree, Toews said RCMP are doing what they can to cover a very wide area that requires them to drive long distances to arrive at a scene.
“It’s tough for them to be everywhere — it takes time for them to drive. So if they’re an hour away, that’s what it takes to get there.”
RCMP said they’re encouraging residents to report anything suspicious in the area by calling the Portage la Prairie detachment at 204-857-4445 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-857-4445.