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Photo: Grande Prairie RCMP
By Shane Clausing
RCMP

Two Grande Prairie men charged following multiple break and enters

Feb 10, 2021 | 3:21 PM

The Grande Prairie RCMP’s Crime Reduction Unit seized weapons and laid charges following an investigation into several break and enter complaints from December 2020 and January 2021.

Over the last two months, both the Grande Prairie and Beaverlodge RCMP detachments received over a dozen reports of break-ins. A number of these involved ATM’s being tampered with or stolen.

The Crime Reduction Unit, along with the Grande Prairie RCMP Police Dog Services and Grande Prairie RCMP Forensic Identification Services all participated in the investigation.

On February 5, officers searched at a home in the Pinnacle neighbourhood. Mounties located and seized a loaded shotgun and ammunition, brass knuckles, a spring-loaded knife, and fraudulent PAL’s and identification cards

Ten grams of suspected meth, multiple pieces of clothing used in the break and enter, and stolen property from previous break and enters were also found.

Forty-year-old Kevin Stolth and 33-year-old Michael Hillenga, both of Grande Prairie, have both been charged.

Stolth has been charged with:

  • Break and enter into a business x 5
  • Disguise with intent x 2
  • Unauthorized possession of a firearm
  • Unauthorized possession of a prohibited firearm with ammunition
  • Careless use of a firearm
  • Unauthorized possession of a prohibited weapon
  • Possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose x 2
  • Possession of break-in instruments x 7
  • Possession of property obtained by crime under $5000 x 4
  • Possession of a forged document
  • Possession of a controlled substance (Crystal Methamphetamine)
  • Fail to comply with conditions x 2

Hillenga has been charged with:

  • Break and enter into a business x 3
  • Disguise with intent x 2
  • Unauthorized possession of a firearm
  • Unauthorized possession of a prohibited firearm with ammunition
  • Careless use of a firearm
  • Carry Concealed weapon
  • Unauthorized possession of a prohibited weapon x 2
  • Possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose x 3
  • Possession of break-in instruments x 4
  • Possession of property obtained by crime under $5000 x 4
  • Fail to comply with conditions x 2
  • Possession of a forged document
  • Possession of a controlled substance (Crystal Methamphetamine)

Following a judicial hearing, Hillenga was released from custody on a release order and is scheduled to appear in Grande Prairie Provincial Court on February 17. Stolth has been remanded into custody and is scheduled to appear in court on February 10.

Stolth is one of the four people charged last year after counterfeit documents and currency were seized from a Westpointe area home.

He is facing another seven charges in relation to that arrest and is due to make his first court appearance February 24.

by Shane Clausing