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November 07, 2019 - 12:45 PM
RCMP are searching for suspects who they believe have been passing counterfeit money and committing crimes throughout the North Okanagan, Thompson-Nicola, Nicola Valley and the Central Okanagan and who seem prepared to take great risks to avoid capture.
Police say a vehicle associated to them, a burgundy Dodge Ram D-150 pickup truck, was used by several suspects while attempting to pass counterfeit American and Canadian money.
On Nov. 4, the suspects in question used counterfeit currency at a gas station on the Trans-Canada Highway in Kamloops. Then on Nov. 6 shortly after 8 p.m., RCMP in Merritt responded to a call for a fraud in progress at a gas station on Airport Road, again involving counterfeit Canadian and U.S. currency by a man associated to the same truck, according to a media release from the Southeast District RCMP.
When an officer approached the vehicle, he spotted multiple occupants inside before they evaded arrest.
“The suspect allegedly accelerated towards the responding officer, and sideswiped his fully marked police vehicle before fleeing the area eastbound, not pursued by police,” says Corporal Jesse O’Donaghey, spokesperson for the B.C. RCMP Southeast District.
Police opted not to pursue the vehicle. Police later determined that the B.C. license plates reading KK2078 on the truck match that of plates that were stolen from a vehicle in Armstrong.
Later that same night at around 10 p.m., West Kelowna RCMP responded to a hit and run collision in the parking lot of a business on Boucherie Road. The vehicle involved was the same suspect vehicle and was seen travelling towards Kelowna.
“Kelowna RCMP deployed a spike belt on the east end of the William R. Bennett Bridge in an effort to disable the suspect vehicle,” O’Donaghey says. “The driver performed an evasive maneuver, managed to avoid the tire deflation device and drove over the concrete meridian of the highway. A second motorist’s vehicle was struck as the suspect pulled a u-turn and proceeded back across the bridge span towards West Kelowna.”
The drivers involved in each collision were reportedly uninjured, and police did not pursue the suspect vehicle further. RCMP warn the public about the vehicle and ask for any sightings to be reported.
“If you happen to spot the burgundy Dodge Ram D-150 pickup truck in your community, we caution the public not to approach the suspect vehicle or any of its occupants,” O’Donaghey says in the release. “RCMP strongly urge the public to immediately call their local police of jurisdiction or 911 emergency.”
RCMP ask those with valuable information to report to their local RCMP detachment or remain completely anonymous by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
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