Heffley Creek resident Trent Ziegeman is pictured with his stolen Husqvarna chainsaw in this undated photo.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Trent Ziegeman

Shattered, disheartened and full of rage are just a few words Heffley Creek resident Trent Ziegeman used to describe his feelings after thieves snuck onto his property, cut through locks and stole $10,000 worth of tools earlier this month.

“You just feel you’ve been violated, I have rage inside of me that won’t go away,” he said.

Ziegeman was born with fingers missing and a deformed leg, so he's on disability and makes some income through his firewood cutting business, or he did until his chainsaw was stolen on Nov. 18, along with a welder, a high-end archery bow and an assortment of hunting equipment including rifles.

He keeps the guns in a locked safe, spends most of his time at home and has security cameras set up around his property, but it wasn’t enough to safeguard his belongings.

“I keep checking in with police for updates but there’s nothing so far,” he said.

When the theft happened, Ziegeman had been away for a couple of days to support his girlfriend during a family crisis and was shocked when he returned.

“It’s just a horrible feeling,” he said. “They cut the lock on my safe to get the rifles out, they left lock cutters behind. I didn’t have contents insurance, I’ll be eating all of this.

“I’m struggling to get by too, it’s really disheartening to have it all taken away.”

This compound archery bow was stolen from a property in Heffley Creek, a neighbourhood within the City of Kamloops.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Trent Ziegeman

Ziegeman took stock of the missing items and called RCMP to submit a statement and get a file number. He went to the police station in Kamloops and submitted the lock cutters and several photos taken from his security cameras.

He then took to social media, asking the public for information and posting photos of the two thieves including one whose image was caught clearly on cameras numerous times.

Unfortunately, Ziegeman is one of many victims of crime in Kamloops.

In July, Statistics Canada released crime data for 2023 that revealed Kamloops to be the crime capital of the country, and iNFOnews.ca reporter Levi Landry took a closer look at how those statistics were determined in an article issued July 26.

Crime in the city appears to be at its worst in 15 years with more incidents reported to police and fewer of those crimes getting solved.

Last year, violent crime was still high but down from 2022, while non-violent crime had increased.

The clearance rate for overall crime, which measures criminal files police consider resolved, is at its lowest since 1998, as far back as StatCan records show.

Frustration over crime has prompted vigilante type comments on social media platforms in recent years.

“I know frustration over crime is reaching a boiling point for people,” Ziegeman said. “We pay taxes, we do all our stuff, these guys don’t, they get money given to them by us who do pay taxes. It sounds like a dream job to me, very little risk of them getting caught."

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Ziegeman is collaborating with a Kamloops auto wrecking company who had a truck stolen recently to compare security camera photos of thieves that look similar.

He’s handing over any information he gets to RCMP and checking in with the investigating officer regularly.

“I heard one of these guys is under investigations for other stuff, so obviously he’s known to the police, it’s really frustrating,” Ziegeman said. “The RCMP don’t seem to be able to find them, I don’t know how or why. I’ve found out more information through social media than the RCMP.”

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Ziegeman said he has little hope of getting his belongings back.

“For the general public, it’s pretty sad when anyone has to go through this.”

The stolen items include a brand new Weatherby 257 magnum rifle, a 22 Marlin XT rifle, Hobart 140 welder, hot wheels collection, compound archery bow and other hunting equipment including trail cameras and scopes.

If you have any information that might help Ziegeman get his stolen belongings back, you can contact him though his Facebook page here.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Shannon Ainslie or call 250-819-6089 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

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