Image Credit: SOURCE/RCMP
February 27, 2013 - 4:57 PM
BOTH BRANDISHED POCKET KNIVES DURING THE ROBBERY
Men police believe are responsible for robbing drugs stores at knifepoint in Penticton and Golden made a court appearance in Invermere Wednesday.
Lucas Holman, 28 and Travis Hutzul, 32, are each charged with two counts of robbery. Holman was remanded into custody until March 12 while Hutzul plead guilty to two counts of robbery and received a sentence of one year in custody per count.
Penticton RCMP and Golden RCMP solved the alleged crimes that occurred weeks apart in their districts and within a month arrested two suspects from Penticton.
"As a result of some good basic information sharing and tenacious police work, investigators from two B.C. RCMP jurisdictions were able to link the two crimes in short order, quickly identifying the suspects and arrested the two accused before they had a chance to possibly re-offend and cause any further risk to public safety," Cpl. Dan Moskaluk said.
The first incident took place in Princeton Jan. 30 during the lunch hour. RCMP were told two men robbed the Shoppers Drug Mart pharmaceutical counter. Both brandished pocket knives during the robbery and fled through the back door with a large amount of prescription medication.
The second happened in Golden Feb. 16 at around 3:30 p.m. The report received by Mounties was identical to the previous incident with two men entering People's Drug Mart and approaching the pharmaceutical counter. Moskaluk said one of the men moved behind the counter and threatened the pharmacist with a knife and demanded narcotic prescription drugs and were given a large quantity before fleeing on foot.
The two were arrested Feb. 22 without incident in a mobile home outside Golden. Police found evidence related to the robberies at the home during the arrests.
News from © iNFOnews, 2013