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Photo by Curtis Galbraith
By Curtis Galbraith
Court

Court update: Jail time after stolen property arrest, trial date set after what police called “a crime spree”

Dec 9, 2019 | 4:30 AM

Alberta Justice says one of two people charged after what police described at the time as a “significant stolen property seizure” has been given a jail sentence in Grande Prairie court.

Jeremi Daniel Riopka was given a 29-month sentence after he pleaded guilty to eight of the charges he was facing in this case and others during a December 4 court appearance. He will get five months credit for time spent in custody.

That included three of possession of stolen property over $5000, possession of stolen property under $5000, and single counts of breach of probation, assaulting a peace officer, and possession of break-in instruments.

The other charges were withdrawn.

He and Tabatha Whitney Willier were arrested after an August 27 search of a campsite in the MD of Greenview turned up a pick-up, travel trailer, quad, and other property that had all been stolen. That led to a search of a storage unit in Clairmont where more stolen property was found.

The pair had been arrested two weeks earlier after police alleged they were found in a stolen truck and were out on bail at the time of the stolen property arrest.

Willier is due back in Grande Prairie court December 23.

Trial date set after “crime spree”

A trial date has been set for a Grande Prairie man arrested after what police described at the time as a two-day crime spree.

Alberta Justice says the trial for Robert Wade Stewart will be held July 22 next year.

RCMP laid more than two dozen charges in June after several incidents that started in the Hillside area on May 31 of this year.

A man took off in a stolen truck after being caught loading stolen items into a cargo trailer, which was also stolen.

The suspect later abandoned that truck and stole another vehicle.

Police later located the same suspect driving that truck and towing a travel trailer. The driver fled again, hitting another vehicle.

That same suspect was spotted by police just before 3:30 a.m. on June 1. That same stolen pickup was used to ram three police vehicles as the suspect took off.

Stewart was later arrested at a Grande Prairie home.

by Curtis Galbraith