Several suspects involved in an attempted robbery will appear in court today. The suspects are two of six individuals nabbed by Cochrane RCMP in the span of three days last week.
From Jan. 7 to 9, three incidents involving stolen – and one attempted theft – of vehicles resulted in a police hunt and multiple arrests.
In the most recent string of events on Jan.9, a man was bearsprayed in his own home after attempting to stop two thieves from stealing his vehicle.
RCMP, with the assistance of the police dog services, located the two male perpetrators nearby and arrested them. Lyle Bearspaw (25) and Jacob Wesley (18), both of Morley were charged with robbery and numerous other charges. The pair are the first to make a court appearance, which is set for today.
On Jan. 8, an erratic driver entering the Cochrane area was reported to the RCMP. After looking into the licence plate of the vehicle driving erratically, police discovered the vehicle had been reported stolen out of Calgary. Police tracked the vehicle down and found it abandoned in rural Cochrane alongside a second vehicle that had also been reported stolen out of Calgary.
Dennis Wildman (39) of Morley was arrested with the help of police dogs a short distance away. Wildman is charged with being in possession of property stolen property over $5,000 plus additional charges. He's set to appear in Cochrane Court on Jan. 29. Richard Hunter (46) of Morley was also charged in connection to the event and is set to appear in court on Jan. 22.
The first of the three day arrests was on Jan. 7 when the Cochrane RCMP tracked down a stolen vehicle from Canmore using Onstar. Police dog services were used to arrest two of the suspects nearby.
Malik Holloway (20) of Morley is facing multiple charges including being in possession of stolen property over $5,000. He is scheduled to appear in Cochrane Court on Jan. 15. Stephawn Hunter (22) of Morley is charged with being in possession of property under $5,000 plus one additional charge. Hunter is scheduled to appear in Cochrane Court on Jan. 29.
According to the release by the Cochrane RCMP, the detachment, which implemented a crime reduction team over a year ago, has been using new technologies, initiatives and analysis tools, which has been factor in honing in on "the few offenders who commit most of the crime and to target crime hot spots in a given community."
