Snowmobile thefts frustrate owners
RCMP have suspects in mind but need to catch them in the act
Sarah Ladik
Northern News Services
Thursday, February 4, 2016
INUVIK
A series of frustrated property owners posted on social media last week after a particularly active weekend for thieves looking for their missing and stolen snowmobiles.
Angel Simon received a photo of her sled from the two men who found it, with the chain she had used to secure it still attached. - photo courtesy of Angel Simon
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None, however, were more frustrated than Angel Simon, who got a bare eight weeks of use out of her snow machine after getting it all fixed up after the last time it was stolen.
"They drove off with the chain still on the track, and they drove it into a tree," she told the Drum last week. "I'm still talking to the insurance company, but it may be a write-off."
Simon's Polaris Rush 600 Pro-ride was taken from where it was chained the night of Jan. 22. After a similar incident last spring, she had shelled out $2,000 to see it repaired in November 2015 and has since become far more vigilant. Someone had also tried to take the sled in November, but was unsuccessful.
"I brush the snow around it at night to see if there are tracks the next morning," she said, adding that she had put the fact that it was missing on Facebook, only to get a message from two men who had found it later that day. They brought it to her at the fire hall, something for which Simon said she was very grateful.
Cpl. Darryl MacMullin at the Inuvik RCMP detachment said this sort of crime comes in waves and that it can be challenging to figure out who is responsible and lay charges.
"Normally there's a bit of damage to them, just from getting them started, but 95 per cent of them are recovered," he said.
"It's not like stealing a vehicle, it's a lot easier to hot-wire a Ski-Doo, and everyone here fixes their own machines and is familiar with them."
While MacMullin said there had been a trend in the last few months, he also noted that it's not an epidemic, and is nothing out of the ordinary.
He advised snowmobile owners to continue chaining their machines up at night and keeping them under lock and key.
"It's unfortunate that you have to protect your property like that," he said. "We try to encourage the community to report any suspicious activity . We have an idea who it is, it's a select group of people but we need to catch them in the act, or have someone give a statement to that effect."
MacMullin said there had been one charge laid as a result of that weekend, precisely because there was a witness.
Although she reported it to police, there were no leads on who stole and wrecked Simon's machine last Thursday.
The same can't be said for the last time her snowmobile was stolen.
She said part of the problem is that there are virtually no consequences, even when the culprits are apprehended.
"He got charged with stealing my sled, went through diversion, and he never even went," Simon said.
"They know they're going to get a slap on the wrist. It's theft over $5,000, and according to the Criminal Code, that's a maximum sentence of 10 years. But there are no repercussions at all."
In a cruel ironic twist, Saturday, Jan. 23 was one of the nicest days of the season for riding so far. Simon said whether the insurance covers her most recent loss or not, she won't have a machine before the snow melts.
"It just sucks," she said. "Once you have something you love doing, you're going to stay in the North. Without that thing, it's that much tougher."
