*****This media release is being posted on behalf of S/Sgt. Gary SCHENK of the CRD Regional Crime Unit. Any questions regarding this press release may be forwarded to S/Sgt. SCHENK at 250-883-4389.******
On Wednesday afternoon, August 21 , the Regional Crime Unit arrested a male who is believed to be responsible for a large number of recent thefts from vehicles. ln the early hours of Sunday morning two males broke into the underground parking lot of an apartment building on Nursery Hill Drive in View Royal and then proceeded to break into 7 vehicles. On Tuesday morning RCU officers viewed the surveillance video from the building’s security system and immediately identified one of the suspects as a male who they had under surveillance the previous Friday.
With the assistance of the Victoria Police Department and the Greater Victoria Emergency Response Team, the suspect was arrested Wednesday at his residence in the 600 block of Battery Street. RCU officers executed a search warrant at the man’s apartment and seized all of the clothing items he was wearing-during the thefts as well as much of the property stolen from the Nursery Hill Drive vehicles. ln addition officers located and seized other items suspected of having been stolen from vehicles, including sunglasses, cell phones, GPS devices, and a large quantity of identification.
Since the arrest officers have been working fulltime to identify owners and return the recovered stolen property. To this point in the investigation the suspect has been linked to a total of 11 separate thefts from vehicles, primarily in Victoria and the Western Communities. This case serves as an excellent example of a prolific offender committing property crime across the Capital Region.
22year old Mitchell Leigh MacLEOD has been charged with two counts of Breach of Probation as well as Break, Enter, and Commit Theft. The investigation is continuing and additional charges relating to Possession of Stolen Property are anticipated. MacLEOD made a first appearance in Western Communities Provincial Court on Thursday and his bail hearing has been adjourned to Monday morning.
The Regional Crime Unit is an integrated unit comprised of police officers from the Saanich Police Department, Oak Bay Police Department, Central Saanich Police Service, West Shore Detachment RCMP as well as Provincial RCMP. Since 2008 the Regional Crime Unit has been pursuing its mandate of proactively targeting the region’s most prolific criminal offenders.
Posted on behalf of S/Sgt. Gary Schenk