A local man is in custody following a five-month investigation by the Burnaby RCMP’s prolific offender suppression team.
According to police, in light of a recent spike in the number of auto thefts and thefts from cars, investigators have spent the last few months gathering information with assistance from the department’s crime analysts and forensic identification team.
The information identified a 23-year-old Burnaby man, with a criminal record dating back to 2010, as a likely suspect, explained a media release from Burnaby RCMP.
On March 4, officers allegedly observed the suspect withdraw cash at a bank in the 7100 block of Kingsway. The client card used by the suspect had been reported stolen following a car break-in in Whistler 12 hours earlier, according to police.
The officers moved in to arrest the suspect and an altercation ensued resulting in one officer sustaining non-life threatening injuries, the release stated.
Following the arrest, police executed a search warrant on the suspect’s home and seized several items including a firearm and ammunition as well as property and mail police allege was stolen.
Burnaby RCMP is continuing its investigation into the suspect with the assistance of Whistler RCMP and other police agencies in the Lower Mainland.
"This was a prolific offender with a high cross-jurisdictional profile and his arrest will have a direct impact on reducing auto related crimes in Burnaby and other jurisdictions. Information sharing, great teamwork and an intelligence-lead approach to policing resulted in the identification and arrest of one of Burnaby’s prolific offenders,” Insp. Michael Labossiere, community operations officer for the Burnaby RCMP, said in the release.
The suspect, Roger Stonehouse, has been charged with two counts of theft under $5,000 and two counts of possession of stolen property. He has been remanded into custody while he awaits an upcoming court appearance for other, unrelated crimes.
