Police investigate theft of excavator

- Fort St John - 06/01/2023

The Fort St John RCMP is requesting the public’s assistance in identifying a man who fraudulently rented heavy equipment.

On November 21, 2022, the Fort St John RCMP received a report from a local equipment rental company that on October 21,2022, a man fraudulently rented a trailer loaded with an excavator while posing as an oil and gas company employee.

The man picked up the trailer and excavator by using a grey F-350 pickup truck stolen from Red Deer Alberta.

The trailer had been recovered by Beaverlodge RCMP on November 18, 2022, after it was located abandoned and returned to the local equipment rental company, located in Fort St John. The truck was recovered in Red Deer Alberta. The suspect man has not been identified and the excavator has not been recovered.

The suspect male is described as:

• Suspect man wearing blue high visibility coveralls with face mask pulled down.

The stolen excavator is described as:

• John Deere 50G 2020 compact (mini) excavator,

• Yellow and black in colour,

• Serial Number 1FF050GXLLH292048,

• Peace Country Rentals decals.

This individual is involved in the theft of very expensive equipment which is negatively impacting the businesses he is stealing from, said Constable Chad Neustaeter, Media Relations Officer for the Fort St John RCMP. The RCMP remain committed to locating and arresting this individual which could immediately decrease the instances of high value thefts in the North Peace Region.

The Fort St John RCMP continue to investigate and are asking anyone who has information in this matter to contact the Fort St John RCMP at 250-787-8100. Should you wish to remain anonymous, please call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or submit a tip online at www.northernbccrimestoppers.ca.

Released by

Cst. Chad Neustaeter