A man and woman face close to 40 charges following a Sept. 1 high-speed chase that saw the RCMP helicopter and tracking dogs called in.
Annette Brown, 21, and Eric Michael Unger, 28, both of Red Deer, appeared in Westlock Provincial Court Sept. 5 via CCTV from the Edmonton Remand Centre and both were granted time to speak to counsel.
Unger faces 20 charges, including eight failing to comply with the conditions of an undertaking, three possession of property obtained by crime under $5,000, two possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000, break and enter with intent, operation of a motor vehicle while being pursued by police, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, resisting a peace officer, driving a motor vehicle with a suspended licence, operating an unregistered motor vehicle and driving without insurance.
Brown faces 17 charges, including seven counts of failing to comply with the conditions of an undertaking, two possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000 charges and single counts of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, break and enter with intent, operation of a motor vehicle while being pursued by police, failure to hold a valid driver’s licence, operating an unregistered motor vehicle and driving without insurance.
According to an RCMP press release, Alberta’s Crime Reduction Unit — established earlier this year in a response to mounting rural crime incidents — tracked the two to Hinton after identifying a 30-foot RV the pair used as a base.
Police say that after recovering the vehicle, they were notified of two Camaros stolen from a residence in Hinton, which were tracked to Westlock.
On Aug. 31 Westlock RCMP received a complaint of a stolen Dodge pickup truck from a local dealership and witnesses described a man being dropped off at the dealership in a yellow Camaro driven by a woman.
One day later, RCMP were tipped off that the stolen truck and one of the Camaros were at a local gas station. When police arrived, the vehicles rammed the cruisers and fled.
Police say they briefly pursued, but called off the chase out of consideration for public safety.
However, their escape was fleeting. The CRU was in Westlock on standby and deployed road spikes on Highway 18 near Range Road 273 to stop the vehicle.
The Camaro swerved off the road to avoid hitting the spikes and struck a tree. Police say the female driver fled on foot, but police dogs were able to track her down. Police arrested her and transported her to the hospital with minor injuries.
Later that evening, the CRU located the man near a stolen Ford F-350 truck. The suspect fled, but an RCMP helicopter and police dog unit tracked him down and arrested him, seizing the stolen truck and a large cache of stolen goods, including a substantial amount of tools from a break and enter incident sometime back.
The other stolen Camaro and Dodge truck were located by RCMP the next day.
