Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

Rankin Inlet (Jan 16/02) - Rankin Inlet RCMP have laid more than 100 charges against 11 individuals following a crime spree across the hamlet this past month.

The majority are youth, with charges ranging from public mischief to counterfeiting $100 bills during the Christmas season.

The officer in charge of the Rankin Inlet detachment of the RCMP, Sgt. Tom Kasdorf, said last week that two separate groups of youth have been responsible for the vast majority of property crimes committed in the hamlet recently.

"We have, basically, an older group and a younger group, but they're both comprised of young offenders," said Kasdorf. "In the fallout of the investigation, we ended up arresting a couple of adults on break-and-enter charges, but they weren't related to these younger groups."

Kasdorf said all of the break-ins were committed at local businesses, some of which involved large quantities of cash.

"Most of the property is still missing. The majority of it is cash and alcohol, which just disintegrated into the community in one way or another.

"We suspect a lot of the stolen money went towards the purchase of drugs and that was quite considerable. The local Co-op alone had about $20,000 stolen."

Kasdorf said overall, youth crime in Rankin is not overwhelming for a hamlet of its size.

He said a lot of crime can be committed by a small number of people and, now that these culprits have been apprehended, life may return to normal in the community.

"We've done our job to bring these individuals before the courts and, hopefully, they will receive appropriate sentences.

"Some of these offences were of a quite serious nature, especially the counterfeiting."

Three of the charged individuals were remanded directly into custody in Iqaluit pending a show-cause hearing.

The remaining eight individuals were released into their own custody and are scheduled to appear in the Nunavut Court of Justice in Rankin Inlet on Feb. 13.