Three people were charged and two others arrested on outstanding warrants following a four-day operation in Red Deer where police recovered eight stolen vehicles.
RCMP said a sixth person was also arrested but cannot be named as charges have not yet be laid. They said an investigation into the case is ongoing.
Alberta Mounties said in a media release Friday that covert strategies were used to identify the suspects and recover the stolen vehicles, in order to avoid the risk of “criminals driving dangerously or ramming police vehicles” while trying to avoid arrest.
The arrests were made between Feb. 28 and March 3.
“Red Deer RCMP are using a variety of crime reduction strategies to target vehicle thefts and property crime and the handful of repeat offenders who are most responsible for it,” Insp. Gerald Grobmeier said.
Kevin John Brown, 48, and Trevor Ryan Unrau, 35, are both charged with possession of stolen property over $5,000 and failing to comply with conditions.
Unrau was also charged with resisting and/or obstructing a peace officer. Mounties said he was found in a stolen van in a “high crime area.”
Both men are scheduled to appear in court on March 21.
Ryan Shane Schuster, 29, was arrested on outstanding warrants for use of a stolen credit card, break and enter, theft of a vehicle and for multiple charges of fraud, failing to comply with conditions and breach of probation. He faces three new charges of failing to comply with probation after Mounties located him in a vehicle that didn’t belong to him.
His next court appearance is March 19.
Chaz Nicholas Kujula, 19 and Natalie Angela Dufault, 44, were arrested on outstanding warrants including break and enter and theft.
Kujula, who had been scheduled to appear in court on March 5, was also wanted for failing to comply with conditions. He is expected in court on March 16.
Dufault is scheduled to appear in court in Stettler, Alta. on April 26.