Law Enforcement

n June 26 - An officer was dispatched to a gas station in Abbotsford in reference to a suspicious person who kept going in and out of the store and appeared to be attempting to steal items.

The officer arrived and met with the male who said he was trying to get to Minneapolis. The man said he got to Abbotsford by taking an “adventure.”

The officer could tell that the man was under the influence of alcohol and asked the man if he had stolen anything from the gas station. The man denied stealing anything and eventually allowed the officer to frisk him for weapons. After finding none, another officer arrived and waited with the suspect while the initial officer went inside to speak with the caller.

While inside, a witness pulled the officer aside and said that he had seen the man moving traffic cones on Hwy. 13 to stop cars and ask for money. The officer went and spoke to the caller who said the man first came into the store around 6:30 that night, purchased an alcoholic beverage and left. The caller said the man came back in and was creeping around the alcohol coolers and then came to the counter with another drink and told the employee he had already paid for it. The employee told the officer she told the man he did not and printed off the previous receipt showing the man he bought a different drink.

The employee said the man said “OK” and left leaving the can on the counter. He then went outside and was talking to other customers and said that is when she called 911.

The officer ran the man through dispatch and was told he has a warrant out of Quebec, Canada and is to be considered armed and dangerous and has violent tendencies. Quebec was contacted and the officer was told the warrant was only servable in Quebec.

The officer returned to the man and informed him of the trespassing orders from the gas station and other gas stations in the area. The officer also told the man he could not move traffic cones and block the roadway. The man said he could because he is protesting and was allowed to do that in Billings, Montana. The officer reiterated that the man could not move the traffic cones.

The man asked where the next fast food restaurant was and the officer said 20 miles north. The man declined a ride and walked away traveling north.

n June 28 - An officer took a theft complaint from a man who said he was the supervisor of the company that was hired to work on the Abbotsford water tower. The man said he had his equipment set at the bottom of the tower and did not have them locked up. The man said he came in that morning and realized that some equipment had been stolen.

The man said seven airless spray guns and a Milwaukee battery pack and charger were stolen.

The man said they would be getting cameras and locking up valuables from now on. He also said he'd contact the CAPD if he saw anyone loitering in the construction site after daylight. The man requested that the officers do extra patrols through the area after dark.

n June 30 - An officer was driving southbound on Hwy. 13 and ran the registration of a vehicle in front of him. The vehicle's registration came back as expired. The officer conducted a traffic stop of the vehicle.

The officer met with the driver and asked if she had proof of insurance for the vehicle and she said she did not.

The K9 officer then arrived on-scene with K9 Dodge who alerted to the vehicle. The officer had the driver step out of the vehicle and searched her, finding nothing of evidentiary value.

The officer then had the passenger exit the vehicle and found a vape pen in the man's front pocket that had a marijuana leaf picture on it and yellow liquid inside. The officer did not find anything else on the passenger.

The officer searched the vehicle and found a backpack near where the passenger was sitting which had multiple items with similar marijuana markings on them. The officer then spoke to the passenger who said all the items in the backpack were his. The officer said he would be transporting the items to the police department and if they tested positive for marijuana, the man would be mailed a citation for possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

The officer tested the items while back at the department and they tested presumptively positive for marijuana. The man was mailed the citation.

n July 4 - An officer was advised of a dog that was found in the city of Colby. The officer arrived and met with the complainant who said she observed the dog run west across Hwy. 13. The officer spoke to adjacent residents who gave the officer an address for whom the dog belonged to. The officer grabbed the dog and lifted it into his squad car. The officer met with a woman at the residence and asked her if she was missing a dog. The woman said she did not believe so but looked in the officer’s squad and realized it was her dog. She said she did not know her dog had ran off. The dog was released to her and the woman was verbally warned for permitting an animal to run at large.

n July 4 - An officer was dispatched to a bank in Colby for an alarm. The officer was advised that it was an ATM alarm. Upon arrival, the officer along with three other officers checked the building and did not locate anyone in the unlocked public entrance area where the ATM is. The windows and doors to the building were secure. While looking at the ATM, the officer did not observe any signs of attempted forced entry into the machine.

The officer spoke with a key holder who advised she would come to the bank in 40 minutes and reset the alarm. The officer advised the key holder of the officers findings and asked to review security camera footage of the public entrance to ensure someone did not attempt to break into the machine.

The key holder said she would check the cameras the next morning. The officer advised the key holder to contact the police department if any suspicious activity was observed.

n July 4 - An officer took a report of a dog that was found. The officer met with residents of Abbotsford who said they had the dog on a leash and said that it had been found in their back yard playing in their swimming pool.

The officer attempted to contact the owners but was unsuccessful. The officer transported the dog to the Abbotsford city garage and the dog was later returned to its owner.

n July 5 - An officer was dispatched to a residence in Colby for an accidental 911 call. The officer was then walking back to his vehicle and noticed a vehicle at the end of the driveway with a male in the driver’s seat. The man said there was a white camper that was parked on a street in Colby. The officer asked what white camper as the officer did not see the trailer in question.

The man began to get agitated and said there has been a camper parked for two weeks and said he had to move his own camper onto his property rather than leaving it on the road.

The man then informed the officer that he needed to look for stuff while he was working. The officer said if he had a problem with how the officer was doing his job, the man could talk to the officer’s supervisor. The officer said he would talk to the owners of the camper and walked away as the man kept shouting at him.

The officer made contact with the owner of the camper and said she would need to move her white camper. The woman agreed and the officer noted that the camper was moved on his next working shift.

n July 6 - An officer was on patrol in Colby when he observed a vehicle driving with no taillights on during hours of darkness. The officer initiated a traffic stop of the vehicle and met with the driver. The driver said he did not have a driver’s license but did have an identification card. The officer could smell the strong odor of an alcoholic intoxicant coming from the man’s breath and observed him to have slurred speech. The officer asked the man if he had anything to drink that night. The man said he was coming from a bar in Unity and said he had three cans of beer and two shots of liquor.

The man agreed to perform field sobriety tests but declined the preliminary breath test. The man was placed under arrest for operating while under the influence (first offense) and was issued citations for operating without a valid license, and a warning for defective tail lamps. He was later mailed a citation for operating with a prohibited alcohol concentration. The man was then released to a responsible party.

n July 7 - An officer took a walkin complaint of theft at the CAPD. The complainants said they shared a checking account with a debit card through a bank. The man said he had lost his debit card the last weekend and noticed it was gone on July 1. The female complainant said she called their bank that same day and had the card blocked or cancelled with another one on the way.

The woman said she had gone through their account a few days later and saw that there was a charge as she had called previously to cancel the card. The bank told her that she would need to file a police report before they could do their fraud investigation in order to get their money back.

The woman provided the officer with some paper copies of the charge and it showed the charge had happened on July 4th from a grocery store in Abbotsford.

The man said they had already received a new card and that it appeared the charge in question was the only money they were out as it had already been deducted from their account. The man said he had not given anyone permission to use his card for anything and that he and the woman were the only ones authorized to use the card. The officer said he would go to the grocery store to locate any possible camera footage.

The next day, the officer arrived at the store and met with the store owner who said the store was not open on July 4th but brought in all receipts she had from June 28 - July 6. The owner gave the officer the receipts and had him look through them to find a matching amount. The owner of the store said the charge could have been a money transfer as the business also offers that service. The officer learned that the money sending service had a max amount that closely resembled the fraudulent charge. The owner said they still had not been open that day but she would go back and look through receipts to find the transfer. The woman returned with two receipts, one of which equaled the amount that had been charged to the victim’s card. The woman said the one that matched was transferred to a man in Mexico from the victim’s card.

The officer met with the victims again and asked about the Mexican man. One of the victims said it was his father. The officer showed them copies of the receipts and showed the officer that the date was from June. The officer asked the woman to check her online banking account around the time of June 6 from the receipts the officer had.

The woman was unable to find any charges within a week of June 6 posted to her bank account. The woman said that the receipts were not fraudulent and had in fact been the male complainant.

The officer asked the woman to speak with her bank about looking into the charge with the receipts to see if it could have been the same charge and posted a month later. The woman said that they would as that was the only recent time that year that they had sent money so it may very well be the same. The woman said she would call the department with what she found out.

n July 8 - An officer was dispatched to the city of Colby in reference to a found child that was wandering in the middle of a construction zone on Hwy. 13. The officer arrived and found the child being helped by one of the construction workers. The worker said the boy had wandered from Park Street and was found standing barefoot in the middle of the roadway they were paving.

Another witness had stopped and said they followed the child down Park Street but did not see where the boy had come from. The boy appeared to be about 3-4 years old.

The officer was unable to gather information from the child as he was too afraid and was crying. The construction worker said she would wait with the child while the officer looked for the boy’s parents.

The officer drove to Park Street and saw three small children playing outside of a residence. One of the children went inside and returned with their mother and the officer asked if she was missing any children. The woman said she has a younger son who was with her husband on a grocery run.

The officer informed the woman of the boy found down the street and the woman quickly called her husband to see if the boy was with him. The woman found that the boy had not gone to the store with her husband and she sent an older boy to go with the officer to verify that it was his brother that was found in the street.

The officer drove the older boy to the younger boy and it was confirmed that they were brothers. The officer returned both brothers to their residence and explained the misunderstanding to the officer. The officer said he understood how it happened but asked that it not happen again.

n July 8 - An officer was on routine patrol around 2:45 a.m. and drove past a bar in Abbotsford. The officer looked through the window and observed a large group of individuals standing near where the officer understood to be the bar located inside the building. The officer also observed several cars parked outside with no individuals standing near them or on the sidewalk. The officer parked his squad and entered the establishment. He observed loud music to be playing and the establishment to be full of people. The officer saw many patrons still drinking in the bar and had full drinks in their hands while socializing. The officer stood near the bar and observed the owner of the bar come up to him. The officer asked the man if he knew what time it was. The man said he was shutting down and said he was not bartending today but the bar had slow traffic earlier and had picked up later into the evening. The man again said he would close the bar down. While standing near the man, the officer observed the odor of intoxicating beverages coming from his breath. The officer exited the establishment and waited outside the entrance. A short time later, patrons started to exit the building.

On the officer’s next working shift, the officer made contact with the bar owner and issued him a citation for keeping a bar open after hours. The man said again that he was not working at the bar that night but met some coworkers there and was partying with them. The man said he partied a little too hard and lost track of the time while inside the bar. The man said he understood it was his responsibility to ensure the bar closes at the correct time and the officer cleared from the residence.