Another week, another local ripped off in an online scam.
This week it was a male who was renting his room on Craigslist who was taken for $1,500 through online fraud.
According to the police, the male put an ad on Facebook and received a reply from a woman looking to rent the space. She said her father would be taking care of the rent, and that she would be shipping a vehicle to the area.
The man then received a call that the vehicle had arrived and he had to wire money to the shipper. In turn, the supposed renter sent the man a cheque.
The man sent two payments totalling $1,500 and deposited the cheque, which the bank determined was fraudulent.
The man went to the police on April 12, which is investigating. The fraud originated in Red Bluff, California.
Once again, people are reminded only to deal with people face to face. "If it seems too good to be true," said RCMP Staff Sergeant Steve LeClair, "it's too good to be true. If it involves sending money to someone far away, that's a warning sign."
Police patrol turns up trafficking charge
Just before midnight on April 13, a Whistler RCMP patrol entered a local nightclub to do a walkthrough. During the uniformed walkthrough they observed a male known in connection to drug trafficking, who was hugged by another male. When they left the establishment they observed the second male in what appeared to be a drug deal with another man.
The RCMP arrested the suspected dealer and found a large quantity of what's believed to be MDMA, known as ecstasy. A 22-year-old from Delta was arrested and charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking. His first court appearance is on June 14.
Public assistance sought in possible abduction
The Whistler RCMP is asking for the public's assistance after a member of the public reported a suspicious encounter between a young man and a girl aged between five and eight-years-old at a Benchlands hotel on April 15 just after 1 p.m.
According to the witness, the male spoke to the female and the witness said it didn't appear that they knew each other. Soon after she saw the girl — described as wearing blue tights and clothing and carrying a blue backpack — enter the woods around the complex. The witness, a woman in her late 60s was not able to intervene, and informed the front desk of the hotel about the incident.
The police searched the woods in the area using a dog team and spoke to staff at other hotels, but there were no sightings of the male or the girl. Nobody has been reported missing.
The RCMP say it's possible that it was a harmless encounter or the two did in fact know each other, however, they want to talk to anyone who might have information about the case to rule out criminal activity. If you have any information contact 604-932-3044.
Festival-goers well behaved, mostly
The first weekend of the Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival was relatively good from a policing point of view, with the number of tickets and arrests roughly on par with last year.
On Friday and Saturday nights, the RCMP handed out four tickets for urinating in public, 27 liquor bylaw tickets, 26 provincial liquor tickets and arrested five people for being drunk in public. There was also one charge of obstruction.
On the roads, there were 15 charges for infractions to the motor vehicle act, including two warnings for drinking and driving between 0.06 and 0.08 per cent blood alcohol content and two charged for being over 0.08 per cent.
Stolen truck turns çup damaged
The RCMP is continuing to investigate after a Ford F250 pickup truck, reported stolen on April 16, turned up in D'Arcy on April 17 with significant damage.
The vehicle was parked on Arbutus in Pemberton, and was left unlocked. Spare keys were also in the vehicle.
There was a Honda 125cc dirt bike in the back that was recovered along with the truck. The police are continuing to investigate.
