Crime
Vernon’s Green Valley Motel on police and council radars
VERNON - A notorious Vernon motel was thrust under the spotlight at a recent Vernon city council meeting. During a presentation by acting RCMP Supt. Jim McNamara, Coun. Brian Quiring brought up his concerns about the Green Valley Motel on Highway 97 across from Polson Park. “It appears to be a haven for people that...
Dangerous driver who left Vernon nurse paralyzed sent to prison
“I HAVE BEEN GIVEN A LIFE SENTENCE WORSE THAN JAIL”: NURSE VERNON - An accident of some kind was inevitable the night a Vernon woman’s life changed forever, court heard during a sentence hearing for the man who ran into her car and fled the scene. Michael Timothy George Heeley, 22, was driving recklessly before...
Vernon dog team nabs neighbourhood thief
VERNON - A man accused of stealing from peoples’ boats, cars and garages was stopped in his tracks by the Vernon RCMP’s dog unit over the long weekend. Police received a report of a suspicious man going through cars and yards in the Cranberry Lane area of Middleton Mountain Monday, May 18. One caller reported...
Armstrong man’s story “did not ring true” in sexual assault trial: Judge
ARMSTRONG - What began as a cordial conversation between two strangers hiding out from the rain at an Armstrong church took a sinister turn when the man pinned the woman against a wall, sexually assaulted her, and threatened to strangle her if she resisted. The woman, in her early 20s, was scared and hesitant at...
Lumby man sanctioned by B.C. Securities Commission
LUMBY - A Lumby man who tried — and ultimately failed — to get away with circumventing B.C. securities laws won’t be working anywhere near them for years. In 2006, Donald Gordon Byrne, a self-employed technician from Lumby, partnered up with friend and former business associate Robert Scott Morrice, according to a B.C. Securities Commission...
Vernon RCMP investigate two home invasions
VERNON - Police are investigating two recent home invasions that may be connected. Around 7:30 a.m. on Friday, May 8, Vernon RCMP responded to two separate home invasions. In both incidents people entered the residences, one in the 3900 block of 32 Street and one in the 3900 block of 27 Avenue, while the homeowners...
Man accused of killing Armstrong woman returns to court this fall
VERNON - The man accused of killing an Armstrong mother of two will go before a judge for a preliminary inquiry this fall. Logan Scott, 31, of Salmon Arm was charged with manslaughter and theft under $5,000 in August 2014, nine months after Jillian McKinty, 27, was found dead in her Armstrong home. At the...
Jail time for Osoyoos man convicted in drunken hit and run
PENTICTON - An Osoyoos man with an apparent alcohol problem will have plenty of time behind bars to test his sobriety after he was sentenced to jail for an Osoyoos hit and run accident in 2014. Steven Troy Fields, 28, was sentenced today, May 4, after pleading guilty to one count of failure to stop...
Vernon dirt biker reported missing wanted to avoid arrest: Lawyer
VERNON - The Vernon man police and three Search and Rescue organizations scoured the Commonage for last week was afraid to go home because he didn’t want to get arrested, court heard today, April 29. Kyle Macinnes, 25, was reported missing by his worried family after he went for a dirt bike ride in the...
Vernon man sentenced on animal cruelty charges will get to keep his dog
VERNON - An unfortunate case of animal cruelty was laid out in Vernon Provincial Court this week, and it wasn’t just sad for the pet. Brian Jacobson, 47, was charged with causing unnecessary pain or suffering to an animal, failing to provide necessities, and causing an animal to be in distress following an SPCA cruelty...
Lumby man’s offence not so different from his last
LUMBY - It was deja-vu for a North Okanagan cop dealing with an impaired driving case. The officer was patrolling in the Lumby area April 10 around 2 p.m. when he noticed a prohibited driver in a residential neighbourhood, RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk says. “Our officer drove up to the vehicle in a marked police...
Mother, son duo arrested in connection with Lumby drug rip
VERNON - A mother and son duo are facing charges after allegedly stealing medical marijuana plants from a licensed grower in Lumby. Lumby RCMP Cpl. Henry Proce says charges have been laid in connection with a March 27 drug rip on Grandview Avenue. “The suspects forcibly broke into a house and stole the marijuana plants...
Stolen Lumby vehicle found scorched and shot up
LUMBY - Police are appealing to the public for tips after a stolen vehicle turned up torched and shot full of bullet holes last week. The vehicle, a silver 2000 Audi, was reported stolen from Catt Avenue in Lumby April 6. Two days later, it was found four kilometres up the Noble Canyon Forest Service...
Vernon man admits guilt in car crash: nurse left paralyzed
VERNON - A Vernon man has pleaded guilty to causing a car crash that left a local nurse paralyzed from the neck down. Robin Orcherton, a Vernon nurse and mother, was on her way home from work Dec. 3, 2014 when her car was struck by a blue Jeep. The driver fled the scene and...
Woman charged in connection with Vernon ATM theft
VERNON - She was caught on camera allegedly stealing cash out of someone else’s bank account, and now six months later, she’s been caught by authorities. Glenda Joan Daku, 53, from the North Okanagan has been charged with one count of theft under $5,000 in connection with the October 2014 offence, which was recorded on...