As is always the case during the holiday season, there are some that look to take advantage of people being away and of busy store clerks.
The first incident in which Ponoka RCMP are looking for a pair of suspects occurred at around 4 p.m. on Dec. 22. Officers responded to a rural residence located along Township Road 420 south of Ponoka following up on a break and enter, where suspects rummaged through it, stealing numerous items including a computer.
Also that same day, at about 7 p.m., two males attempted to exchange a pair of counterfeit bills at Hamilton’s IGA. The suspects tried to pass off two bills — a $50 and a $20. However, the clerk recognized the bills were fake, but one of the suspects grab the money back and both fled the store.
The first male suspect is tall caucasian approximately 30-years-old with short dark hair, while the second suspect was short, wearing a hat and had a zig zag tattoo on his left hand. The pair were seen leaving the parking lot driving a silver minivan that had rust in the wheel wells.
Both incidents remain under investigation and are hoping anyone with information about these crimes or who the suspects are will call the detachment at (403) 783-4472.
Fatal crash
A big snow storm to hit the region made for a busy couple of days for Ponoka RCMP, attending to dozens of incidents along Highway 2 and Highway 2A on Dec. 23 and 24, including a jack-knifed semi-trailer unit near Morningside at around 5 p.m. Dec. 23.
However, on Dec. 22 at about 4:30 a.m., police attended the scene of a a vehicle in the ditch near the Highway 2A exit in the northbound lanes of Highway 2. The vehicle was found next to the railway tracks and the 55 year-old male driver from Grande Prairie was pronounced deceased at the scene. RCMP determined the collision is likely the tragic result of a the driver suffering a medical emergency while behind the wheel.