Victoria, BC – A Victoria man is facing over 50 recommended charges after being arrested as officers executed a search warrant at a downtown multi-residential facility last week. The investigation first began when an alert member of the community spotted the suspect trying door handles on vehicles and called our non-emergency line.
Officers with the Greater Victoria Emergency Response Team and our Community Services Division executed a search warrant at a multi-residential facility in the 800-block of Johnson Street just before 7 a.m. on Thursday, October 4th, 2018. Officers attended the suite to execute the warrant and found the door open and suspect inside. The search warrant came after several days’ investigation which linked the suspect to drug dealing. The suspect was arrested without incident and the suite searched.
Inside, officers located hundreds of items that they believe to be stolen. Drugs were also seized, including over 10 grams of cocaine, 7 grams of methamphetamine, 6 grams of marijuana, and over 20 grams of heroin/fentanyl. Over $25,000 in cash was also seized.
In addition, dozens of stolen pieces of personal identification were also located during the search. Officers have been able to connect some of these items with thefts from vehicles in both Victoria and Saanich. This portion of the investigation remains underway as officers work to locate and identify others whose personal identification has been recovered.
A gallery of these items are below. If you recognize these items you are asked to call our non-emergency line at (250) 995-7654 and ask to speak with the exhibit officer in this file, Cst. Eirik Feir.
“This suspect first came to our attention when an alert member of our community, who spotted the suspect trying door handles on vehicles back in 2017, called us,” Community Services Division Inspector Michael Brown said. “Similarly, at least two members of our community who called us to report that items had been stolen from their vehicles overnight have assisted our investigation by being able to tie this suspect to stolen property.”
While the best strategy to avoid having valuables or personal identification stolen from vehicles is to not leave them behind, reporting them stolen when thefts from vehicles do occur provides important information that supports our investigations.
The suspect, a Victoria man, faces over 50 charges including charges for trafficking, possession of stolen property, identify theft, possession of stolen identity documents and failure to comply with a probation order.
If you recognize any of the recovered items above or have information about these incidents, you are asked to call our non-emergency line at (250) 995-7654. To report what you know anonymously, please call Greater Victoria Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
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