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Vernon Rcmp

Taxman phone scam heating up this summer

VERNON – Scammers are calling into the southern Interior again pretending to be with the Canada Revenue Agency and separating people from their hard-earned money. RCMP are warning people not to give any personal or banking information over the phone after reports of people being targetted in the North Okanagan recently. “In this scam, a person...

Credit card skimmer discovered at Vernon gas station

DEVICE IS DIFFICULT TO DETECT VERNON - A device used to skim credit card information from unsuspecting victims might have been used at a Vernon gas station. Staff at the Esso Gas Station at 3400 32 St. in Vernon discovered the device Friday, July 31, and reported it to the RCMP.  “The device was on...

RCMP foot chase ends in Vernon park with help of police dog

VERNON – A police dog made short work of the hunt for a suspect who ran into a Vernon park to hide this week. The RCMP dog team tracked down a teenager wanted on gun-related offences in Girouard Park in Easthill on Tuesday, July 28. The chase started when officers knocked on the door of...

Migrant workers still missing from Okanagan farm a month later

VERNON - Four migrant workers from Mexico have still not been found a month after an Okanagan farm owner reported the men missing. Huizar Soto Uriel, 37, Isaac Jimenez, 28, Juvenal Rios Binedo, 39, and Juan Manual Sanchez Gallegos, 30, entered Canada on June 16, 2015. On June 26 the foursome departed the farm where...

Pedestrian struck on Vernon crosswalk in critical condition

VERNON - A pedestrian is in critical condition after being hit by a car while using a Vernon crosswalk Saturday morning. The 53-year-old Vernon woman was walking in the crosswalk at Tronson Road and Okanagan Landing Road just after 7 a.m., Saturday, July 18, when she was hit by a car, RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk...

RCMP investigating disappearance of migrant workers from Vernon orchard

VERNON - Police are on the lookout for a group migrant workers from Mexico who went missing from a Vernon orchard in June. The four men left personal items behind, but appear to have taken their identification papers, RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk says. The orchard owner told police they disappeared June 26. The men are...

Childhood friends killed in Vernon motorbike crash leave behind fiancées, families

LUMBY - Childhood friends James Folden and Trinity Bright were both living life to its fullest when a tragic motorbike crash cut their time short. Both were engaged to be married; Folden, 23, to Chelsea, his high school sweetheart and mother of his seven-week-old daughter, and Bright, 24, to the love of his life. Folden,...

Man found dead in Kal Lake identified; second man still missing

VERNON - Police have launched a full scale search for an individual last seen with a man found dead in Kalamalka Lake over the weekend. In a media release issued in this afternoon, June 30, RCMP Const. Jocelyn Noseworthy confirmed what 23-year-old Curtis Wilson’s family announced earlier in the day; that he was last seen...

Men who died in Vernon motorcycle crash identified

VERNON - The names of two men who died in a weekend motorcycle crash have been released by the B.C. Coroners Service. They were James Tyler Folden, 23, of Lumby, and Trinity James Dale Bright, 24, originally from Cherryville, but most recently residing in Canmore, Alberta. Folden was driving an offroad motorcycle with Bright as...

UPDATE: Two men killed in Vernon dirt bike crash

VERNON – Two men are dead after the dirt bike they were on hit a park utility trailer on East Vernon Road in Vernon Sunday morning. RCMP were called to the crash at about 6:30 a.m., June 28, when a neighbour found the men, 23 and 24 years of age. “Early indications in this investigation...

Apparently this isn’t a good place to stop for a drink

VERNON - Just FYI: An unlocked compound is not an invitation to mosey inside and borrow a motorhome for some father-son bonding over a drink. A security company thought it was suspicious that the two men were drinking in the motorhome around 9:50 p.m. Saturday, June 14 and called police thinking it was a break...

Teen rescued after failed attempt to swim Okanagan Lake

VERNON – A 19-year-old from Alberta was rescued from Okanagan Lake after a failed attempt to swim from Ellison Provincial Park near Vernon to the other side of the lake. RCMP called Vernon Search and Rescue at about 5 p.m., Friday, June 12, and the volunteers launched their boats. The teen was found an hour...

Vernon RCMP use creative tactic to send message about distracted driving

VERNON - Police in Vernon tested drivers with an unusual distracted driving campaign Monday afternoon involving a cardboard sign that read: ‘I am not homeless.’ If you kept reading, you’d see the sign went on to say, ‘RCMPolice looking for seatbelt/cell phones.’ RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk says in a media release the sign was part...

Vernon man falls off boat after losing balance and hits propeller

VERNON - Police are looking into what role alcohol may have played in a weekend boating accident which left a Vernon man badly injured — and they’re not investigating the driver of the boat. Police believe a 21-year-old Vernon man who fell off the bow of a boat and struck the propeller might have been...

Blood found outside Vernon school connected to stabbing incident

SUSPECT ARRESTED VERNON - Police have determined the blood found outside Ellison Elementary School in Vernon is connected to a stabbing incident. Officers had a portion of Fulton Road and Okanagan Landing Road outside the school cordoned off on Wednesday, May 28 while they investigated the scene and collected evidence. RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk said a man...

Traffic halted on Highway 6 for air ambulance landing

VERNON - Highway 6 was shut down and used as a landing strip for B.C. Air Ambulance over the weekend. The aircraft was picking up a 60-year-old man from Edmonton who hit a deer while riding his BMW bike along Highway 6 near Angel Falls (close to the Needles Ferry) around 3:10 p.m. Saturday, May...

Vernon RCMP seek witnesses in weekend hit and run

VERNON - Police are appealing to the public for information about a hit and run that left a motorcyclist seriously injured. The accident happened around 2:05 p.m. on Saturday, May 23, at Okanagan Landing Road and Fulton Road, RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk says. According to a witness, a silver Toyota Celica appeared to stop in...

Okanagan Landing Elementary on lockdown after body found in schoolyard

VERNON - Okanagan Landing Elementary School was in lockdown Monday morning after a body was found in the schoolyard. RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk says a man’s body was found by some children shortly before school started Monday, May 25. The incident has been deemed a suicide and the B.C. Coroners Service is involved. Molendyk says...

‘Two full open cans of beer (dropped) at the officer’s feet’

HAVEN'T HAD ANYTHING TO DRINK SINCE LAST NIGHT, OFFICER LUMBY - It was more a question of what laws a Lumby man wasn't breaking when he was pulled over on Victoria Day.  A cop parked at the Lumby RCMP detachment noticed him drive by without a seat belt on and using his cell phone on...

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...

Distress call leads police, Vernon Search and Rescue to mountains outside Lumby

LUMBY - A pair of injured men were lucky to have a well-prepared outdoorsman come along after they crashed their ATV in a remote area outside Lumby. The men were riding a two-person, side-by-side ATV on a forest service road near Squaw Valley Road outside Lumby on Sunday, May 17, when they hit a rut...

Child escapes Vernon car crash with minor injuries

VERNON - Two people, one of them a nine-year-old, escaped with minor injuries after their car flipped onto its roof Monday. The accident happened just after 3 p.m. Monday, May 4, at Highway 97 and College Way in Vernon, RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk said in a release. “The investigation determined the vehicle had been travelling...

Suspects take two guns during terrifying home invasion

VERNON - RCMP are asking for public assistance to help them find several suspects who forced their way into a Vernon home to steal guns from a safe at The Strand Lakeside Resort. The resort is located along Okanagan Landing Road near Okanagan Landing Elementary School. The 34-year-old victim of the home invasion was restrained,...