Police believe one of the stolen vehicles, a 2023 GMC Acadia AT4, is connected to the homicide of Mohaned Abdi in Edmonton
Police identified a trend of thieves stealing seven new Ford Explorers from dealerships across central Alberta. The suspects programmed new keys and drove the vehicles off the lots, leaving the original two sets of keys behind.
RCMP said it’s a new method criminals are using to steal vehicles.
Finding vulnerabilities in system
“We’re working with manufacturers to try and identify the vulnerabilities in their systems in order to find ways to counteract that. As criminals catch up to technology, we try and figure out their techniques on what they do.”
In March, police discovered Ford Explorers and six other vehicles were being re-vinned — registered in Alberta with fraudulent vehicle identification numbers — and then used in serious and violent crimes.
RCMP recovered documents that identified other likely stolen and re-vinned vehicles that police believe were in circulation and seized by police agencies in B.C. and Ontario.
Police also seized a vehicle linked to a shooting on March 30 in the Mycroft townhouses in north Edmonton.
Both cases are under investigation by the Edmonton Police Service.
Stolen vehicles, drugs seized
Officers seized two vehicles at the Port of Vancouver that were set to be exported from Canada.
York Regional Police seized one vehicle and $150,000 cash in Ontario. Police laid charges in regards to the vehicle and cash recovered due to Alberta RCMP identifying the vehicle as being re-vinned.
“The (vehicles) that were recovered were at the Port of Vancouver, and I suspect it was Paraguay that was the original destination, but what we’ve seen in the past, there is a destination set for the sea can, and once it departs, they change the destination,” said RCMP Const. Brennan Goble.
After executing multiple warrants in the Edmonton area, RCMP recovered seven Ford Explorers, four Ford F-350s, a GMC Acadia, a Toyota RAV4, four trailers and two snowmobiles. Other items seized were devices capable of programming vehicle keys and a radio detector for locating GPS trackers in vehicles.
Roughly $30,000 in cocaine and $5,000 in fentanyl, as well as MDMA and methamphetamine, were seized.
‘Try and catch these guys’
Police have charged two men and a woman with 45 counts relating to this three-month investigation.
Lacombe resident Quinn Richard Olson, 48, has been charged with 10 counts of possessing property obtained by crime, 10 counts of uttering a forged document, two counts of theft of a motor vehicle, two counts of fraudulent concealment, breaking and entering, possessing break-in instruments, possessing a master key, and altering a VIN. He was arrested on April 16 and is scheduled for Edmonton court on July 2.
William Blackwood, 47, of Lac Saint Anne County, has been charged with seven counts of possession of property obtained by crime. Blackwood was arrested on June 21 and released while he awaits a court date.
Police have issued an arrest warrant for Nikki Yargeau, 25, of Red Deer. She’s charged with four counts of possessing property obtained by crime, three counts of uttering a forged document, theft of a motor vehicle, fraudulent concealment, and breaking and entering.
“We still have a lot of investigating to do to see who all ties to this because it’s likely more than just the suspects that we’ve charged. I’ve just got to keep my head down and try and catch these guys,” Goble said.