CALGARY – The man police have called a ‘person of interest’ in the mysterious disappearance of a Calgary boy and his grandparents could be free on bail as soon as Friday.
Douglas Garland, 54, was taken into custody last week, when police began scouring a rural area near Airdrie in their search for five-year-old Nathan O’Brien and his grandparents, Alvin and Kathryn Liknes.
The family was reported missing on June 30th, sparking an Amber Alert.
Timeline: Missing Calgary family Nathan O’Brien, Alvin and Kathryn Liknes
On Wednesday, Garland appeared in court via CCTV on charges unrelated to the missing family. It was his second court appearance this week.
Originally, Garland had been charged with identity theft, but he now faces an additional charge of possession of a stolen credit card.
During his court appearance, the Crown consented to release Garland on bail on Friday, if he can provide an address where he plans to live.
“I have just been recently retained, I just met Mr. Garland for this first time this morning and I spent extensive time with the Crown,” explains defence lawyer Kim Ross. “We anticipate doing a consent release on Friday on the charges before the court today.”
Garland is no stranger to police; he served 39-months in a Federal prison in 2000 after being convicted of drug trafficking.
Parole documents from his previous charges obtained by Global News show Garland was not believed to be a risk to the public back in 2000, despite serving months behind bars.
However, it did note concerns about his mental health leading to criminal activity in granting Garland’s day parole to a supervised facility.
Nathan O’Brien’s father Rod was in court for Garland’s first appearance, and again visited the courtroom on Wednesday.
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