A vehicle used during the alleged theft of a steam roller in Mission this summer is the subject of a civil forfeiture claim.
The province’s Civil Forfeiture Office alleges the 2016 Ford F350 in question was used in a break-and-enter at a construction site near the 14100 block of Stave Lake Road in July.
A notice of civil claim filed on Dec. 5 also alleges the vehicle was obtained and paid for by participating in unlawful activity.
The defendants are listed as Jeffery Bruce Cole –who was arrested for theft over $5,000 and break-and-enter in relation to the incident – and his father, who is the registered owner of the vehicle.
According to the claim, the Director of Civil Forfeiture received a Notice of Dispute to Administrative Forfeiture Proceedings from Cole's father claiming an interest in the vehicle.
The notice of civil claim argues the father was either "willfully blind" to the use of the truck or "knew and authorized, implicitly or explicitly, or ought to have known how the vehicle was being used to engage in the unlawful activity."
According to a Mission RCMP release from July, CCTV footage showed a man and a woman cut through a locked gate and drive onto a Stave Lake Road property. The forfeiture claim says Cole and his associate stole diesel fuel from a construction site on July 1.
Police said three known property crime offenders returned to the property on July 3 with a pickup truck and trailer to steal the steam roller.
“The owner of the steam roller also saw the suspect’s truck parked along Lougheed Highway and notified police about its location,” the release stated.
One of the offenders was wearing an electronic ankle monitor in relation to previous offences that tracked his movement and RCMP identified an abandoned property of interest in the Silverdale area.
“Officers went to the property and found the steam roller, as well as a stolen Nissan Pathfinder, and a Hewescraft aluminium boat that had been stolen out of Stave Lake in February,” police said at the time.
RCMP recommended break and enter and theft charges against a 43-year-old man, 44-year-old man and a 22-year-old woman – all from Mission.
According to the notice of civil claim, Cole was arrested on July 7 and the 2016 Ford F350 seized by the Mission RCMP on the same day.
