By Jasmine Franklin
Businesses are being warned to properly secure their property and finances at the end of each day after Tangles Hair and Salon was broken into March 14.
Employees of Tangles showed up to work early March 15 to find locks on the front doors had been tampered with.
“$1,000 of cash and a laptop are missing,” said Ponoka RCMP Sgt. Glenn Demaere. “Be sure your business is free of cash on the premises, alarmed, do nightly deposits and take home unnecessary valuables.”
Demaere said there are no suspects at this time.
One other option available to business-owners is to purchase a metal ring from a locksmith that prevents a lock from being broken. They can be placed on the outside of the lock.
Windows covered in posters are also a risk, Demaere said, because they prevent RCMP from easily viewing activity inside buildings during nightly patrols.
Medication theft
Odd circumstances led RCMP to the Family Health Clinic March 10 after a man stole arthritis medication.
The man, who cannot be identified, stole the medication used for chronic arthritis just before noon.
“He thought he needed the meds right away,” Demaere said.
He was charged with theft under $5,000.
Liquor store thief caught
After weeks of liquor store thefts, RCMP have caught the man responsible.
Billie Morin, 24 of Hobbema, was arrested March 10 and charged on three counts of theft.
Two arrested for possession of marijuana
March 13 was not a lucky day for two men caught and charged separately for the possession of marijuana.
Around 1:22 a.m., RCMP found several joints and cash on a 35-year-old man. He was charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking.
On the same night around 4 a.m., a 54-year-old man was caught by RCMP behind the Leland Hotel. He was also charged with possession.
Child makes a big boo-boo
An eight-year-old boy got more than he bargained for last week when RCMP arrived at the Bargain Shop to deal with a shoplifter.
Turns out, the brains behind the crime was a young boy hungry for candy.
RCMP called the child’s parents and passed the matter into their hands.
Fraudulent emails
“If something seems to good to be true — it usually is,” Demaere said.
Fraudulent emails are not new, however, a new scam of its kind is being circulated.
In the email the individual(s) claim to be Matthew Pennington, a solicitor of a client who allegedly boarded a plane and never made it home. Pennington says he is searching for the next of kin to his client so he or she can inherit a 13 million account.
The email goes on to say the recipient of the email can simply claim to be a next of kin and 45 per cent of the inheritance will go to Pennington and 40 per cent to the email recipient.
“These kind of things are everywhere,” Demaere said. “People really need to be on the lookout.”
The email was passed on the RCMP’s attention after it was received by a Ponoka resident.