Several people are facing a litany of charges after a crime spree that included an alleged kidnapping, several stolen vehicles, buildings rammed and a police chase on a highway in eastern Alberta.
It all went down on Thursday, Feb. 8 in small communities in and around Elk Point and St. Paul, which are about 200 kilometres east of Edmonton.
RCMP said they were initially dispatched around 3 p.m. to reports of a vehicle theft and a kidnapping in Elk Point.
Police said a man was sleeping in the backseat of a SUV when it was stolen from a gas station.
“The victim awoke to see a stranger driving the SUV and requested the suspect to stop, which he did not. The victim was able to escape when the suspect reduced speed in attempts to change his direction of travel,” said a RCMP news release issued on Tuesday.
Police said several other suspects appeared to have helped with the SUV theft. A suspect vehicle was found 45 kilometres south in the hamlet of Clandonald, where RCMP said officers arrested three suspects without any issue.
The situation only escalated from there.
In the same time frame, RCMP responded to break-ins at two other small communities south of Elk Point: Derwent and Beauvallon.
Police said the stolen SUV drove through a shop in Derwent, causing significant damage, and did the same to a home in Beauvallon, nearly striking a resident.
RCMP responded to the house and attempted to arrest the suspect, but police said the suspect stole a different SUV from the property and got away.
Mounties continued to pursue the alleged thief, who police said then stole a pickup truck that was left running outside a shop.
Police rammed the stolen truck to stop it from getting away, at which point RCMP said the suspect went inside the shop and stole a second pickup truck, with a utility trailer attached, that was parked inside.
“The suspect proceeded to ram police vehicles and escaped by driving through an exterior wall of the building,” police said.
RCMP continued to chase the stolen truck and trailer, which was captured by a police dash camera swerving all over the road (see video player above), until officers from the St. Paul detachment deployed a spike belt and were able to stop the truck north of Saddle Lake Cree Nation.
Preston Leo Halfe, 26, from Goodfish Lake, Alta., has been charged with 22 criminal code offences, including:
- Kidnapping
- Six counts of theft of motor vehicle
- Mischief – causing danger to life
- Two counts of break and enter to residence
- Three counts of mischief over $5,000
Police said the suspect put countless lives at risk on his criminal rampage, “victimizing numerous individuals along the way.”
“The suspect was highly motivated to evade police custody and our members did everything possible to prevent the continuation of the offenses, ensure public safety, and bring this series of events to a timely, safe conclusion,” said Sgt. Bobby Burgess with the St. Paul RCMP.
Kidnapping and vehicle theft charges were also laid against the three other suspects arrested earlier in the day: 26-year-old Bonnyville man Cormac Arden Crawford, Kiyana Diamond Hunter, 25, from Saddle Lake, and Brittany Gosselin-Redcrow, an 18-year-old woman from St. Paul.
All four people were brought before a justice of the peace.
Crawford, Hunter and Halfe remain behind bars while Gosselin-Redcrow was released on bail with conditions. All are to appear in court in St. Paul on Thursday.
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