A thief trashed the Bowser Canadian Legion hall last week. Then he took the trash cans.
Bowser Legion branch 211 suffered extensive damage and more than $2,000 worth of alcohol was stolen in a break-in during the early morning hours of March 12, Oceanside RCMP announced this week.
The detachment was called later that morning when Legion members arrived to discover “a significant amount of damage” to the building, the RCMP reported, including three doors that had been heavily damaged by a tool.
“He just kept trying until he found one he could get open,” said Bruce Charters, head of house and properties for the Legion branch.
Surveillance cameras, which the Legion had installed at each of its entrances, indicated a lone male suspect was responsible for the damage and theft.
The telephone lines to the building had been cut to disable the security system, RCMP said. The perpetrator then stacked tables, climbed to pull down ceiling tiles and tore out the building’s internal alarm siren, Charters added.
One of two wall-mounted, coin-operated lotto terminals was forced open and an undetermined amount of cash stolen, though Charters suggested the amount would not have been much more than $100.
“They’d just emptied it out the night before.”
The thief bypassed the open liquor bottles behind the bar and made his way into the storeroom, where he broke padlocks to access unopened liquor bottles. He also broke a lock off the walk-in cooler.
“The only thing he took from the cooler was, somebody had left a box with some steaks, and he took that,” Charters said. “Then he dumped out all the trash cans and used them to haul the liquor out.”
The suspect is believed to have fled in a vehicle, the RCMP said, and Charters added he did not leave the garbage cans behind.
An RCMP review of video surveillance shows the suspect as being a Caucasian male, approximately 5’10” to 6’0” tall, with a lean build, possible facial hair, wearing a lighter coloured hoodie, lighter toned pants, gloves and dark skater-type shoes with white soles and laces.
If you have any information regarding this or any other crime or know the identity of the person or persons responsible for this crime, please contact the Oceanside RCMP at 250-248-6111 or Crime Stoppers at 1-888-222-8477.