Roxanna Thompson
Northern News Services
Friday, April 20, 2007

FORT SIMPSON - Charges have been laid against two minors from Fort Simpson who stole three trucks from K&K Expediting.

One youth has been charged with two counts of theft of a motor vehicle value exceeding $5,000. The other youth has received one count. Both will appear in youth court on May 14.

A third youth involved in the incident hasn't been charged because he was a passenger, said Const. Sigmund Janke, the investigating

officer. In the early morning of April 8, three male youth ages 15, 16, and 17 went to K&K Expediting and took three trucks including a GMC and two Ford F150s.

The youths had been partying Saturday night and were looking for rides, said Sgt. Cliff McKay. The keys were in the ignitions of the trucks.

"They thought they'd do some joyriding," McKay said.

One of the Ford F150s was taken to the end of the island where it was driven into a makeshift barricade and later returned to the K&K site. The GMC truck was driven into a snowbank in Wild Rose Acres and abandoned, said Janke. Both trucks received damage.

The second Ford F150 was driven out of the village and past Jean Marie River before the driver lost control and rolled the vehicle. The youth didn't report having any injuries.

The truck sustained several thousand dollars worth of damage.

Speed, inexperience with driving and fatigue were probable factors in the rollover, McKay said.

Based on information from the youth's parent, the RCMP speculates that the driver was headed to Fort Providence to visit his girlfriend, said McKay.

The driver was picked up by a local person while still walking in the direction of Fort Providence.

"I don't know what he was thinking," said McKay.

K&K Expediting's owner Tim McClelland reported the theft of the vehicles to the RCMP early Sunday morning when he noticed the trucks were missing from his property.

McClelland declined to comment on the matter.