Thieves targeting wineries in Okanagan Falls south of Penticton made off with tens of thousands of dollars in equipment and product last week.
Ten cases of wine and up to $40,000 worth of equipment was stolen from Liquidity Wines, 24 kilometres south of Penticton, on Sunday Nov. 12.
“It appears that they basically booted down the doors and then ripped off the doors into our office,” said owner Ian MacDonald.
A large and valuable oil painting was also damaged.
“I found that lying in the middle of the parking lot in the rain… sentimentally that was a big loss for me,” he said.
Three days earlier, nearby Wild Goose Vineyards was targeted.
A Ford f250 pickup truck and flatbed trailer was stolen on Thursday Nov. 9.
“It’s just a violation,” said owner Kerry Kruger. “You think that you’re in a safe environment, you got neighbours around you that watch out for you, we have all of the security cameras around the premises so that we can see what’s happening, and still you don’t think that things would happen in your neighbourhood at four in the morning.”
Liquidity Wines is now ramping up security.
“We’ve just put on steel doors that only open out, so those you can’t kick in. We’re going to put in more cameras,” MacDonald said.
The small business owners lament the lack of policing resources in the small south Okanagan community of 2500 people.
“I think what you’d need really is more police presence in this area but it’s tough to do because we are removed from Penticton really,” MacDonald said.
Kruger pointed out that Okanagan Falls policing falls under the Penticton regional detachment.
“We don’t have the detachment here and I think that the people who are doing this kind of stuff, they’re aware of that.”
RCMP are reviewing surveillance video and ask anyone with information on the two suspects to contact authorities.