The RCMP seized plants from nine different outdoor marijuana grow operations on Saturday, Aug. 24, which has become an annual tradition in the corridor as police use helicopters to search for illegal operations prior to harvest time. All of the grow sites were on Crown land, and no arrests have been made.
RCMP teams eradicated four grow ops in the Pemberton area, three sites with roughly 550 plants and one site with approximately 1,000. In the In-SHUCH-ch area, RCMP teams cut 250 plants. At Soo River they found three grows, two with 200 plants and one with 300. In D'Arcy one site yielded 865 plants.
According to Staff Sergeant Steve LeClair of the Whistler RCMP, the search for illegal fields is an annual event.
All of the marijuana is in storage and will be burned at a later date.
Male arrested for assault, breaching court order
At 2:26 a.m. on Aug. 22, the RCMP received a call from a woman after her ex-boyfriend showed up and unlawfully entered a residence on the 4,300-block of Northlands Boulevard. The male allegedly threw a bottle at the woman and pushed her.
The male was under a court order not to have contact with the complainant. A 26-year-old Whistler male was arrested for breach of the court order and assault.
Male arrested for breach
On Aug. 21 at 10:44 a.m. the RCMP received a call regarding a male in his 40s with no shirt and shorts drinking beer on a bench on the village stroll. The RCMP attended and spoke to the male, who did have open alcohol, and determined that he was in violation of a court order not to drink alcohol or be found in possession of non-prescription drugs. On arrest the male was found with approximately nine grams of hashish.
The male was held in custody until the next day, and transported to court in North Vancouver. The male, identified as Ben Strongitharm, pleaded guilty to breach and was sentenced to one day in jail.
SAR retrieve injured hiker
On Aug. 22 the Pemberton RCMP received a report regarding a hiker with an injured back on Marriott Mountain. BC Ambulance was contacted, but it was too dark to respond by helicopter and the group headed to Wendy Thompson Hut in Marriott Basin to take shelter for the night. Pemberton Search and Rescue flew in the next morning and extracted the injured hiker, who was hurt in a fall.
On Aug. 24 at 9:12 p.m. the RCMP received a call regarding a male and four females lost in the Brandywine Mountain area. It was too late to mount a rescue, and the group was counselled to build a small fire and wait until a helicopter could find them in the morning. A Whistler male and four Japanese females were flown from the Grizzly Creek area the next morning.
Motorcyclists busted for speeding at twice the limit
Sea to Sky Traffic Services has impounded six motorcycles after the lead motorcycle in a pack travelling together was clocked at 162km/h in an 80km/h zone on Thursday, Aug. 22 around 9 p.m.
The motorcycles were heading southbound on Highway 99 near the Porteau Road intersection south of Squamish when police clocked them.
"Since all six motorcycles were travelling within two or three metres of each other we stopped the entire group," said Cpl. Robert McDonald of the BC RCMP Traffic Services. "Each rider received an excessive speed violation ticket under the Motor Vehicle Act and, in accordance with the act, each motorcycle was automatically seized for a seven-day impound."
The violation ticket was for $483, plus three points, under laws introduced in September 2010. The driver is also on the hook for impound costs and fees and may face additional risk premiums from ICBC.
Excessive speeding penalties kick in for vehicles travelling 40km/h over the limit.
"I would definitely categorize this as extreme speed at more than double the limit," said Cpl. McDonald. "Their actions were even more dangerous because they were all two to three metres from each other."
The motorcycles were Honda, Ducati and Aprillia
Nightclub theft leads to arrest
Using camera footage, bar staff at a Whistler nightclub were able to point out a customer who allegedly stole a staff member's cell phone, which was left on a counter beside an ATM.
Police looked at the footage and were able to identify a 23-year-old Surrey male in the nightclub as a suspect and arrested him for theft. He will make a court appearance on Oct. 23.
Man assaults females outside of nightclub, injured by patrons
A group of four women were heading to their hotel room with a pizza after 1:30 a.m. on Aug. 25 when an unknown male outside of a local nightclub confronted them. According to the reports, he allegedly swore at them, grabbed one of the women, threw the pizza onto the ground and pushed another female into the window of the nightclub — attracting the attention of some of the patrons inside. One of the women tried to intervene at that point and the male punched her.
The patrons of the bar confronted the male and in the melee the suspect male sustained a cut to his head.
The suspect, a 36-year-old from Whistler, was checked over by an ambulance crew and released back into police custody. He now faces one charge of assault, and possibly additional charges.
