Staff and members of the Ponoka Rising Sun Clubhouse were met with a terrible surprise on the morning of Jan. 5. The 1993 Dodge Caravan that they had for only a month was missing from where they had left it parked the night before.
The Ponoka RCMP and the Red Deer RCMP were in contact and the van was found later that morning. According to Red Deer RCMP there was only one occupant in the vehicle and that person is now in custody pending the investigation.
Debbie Lamey, director of the Ponoka Rising Sun Clubhouse, was frustrated with the theft and says it was upsetting for everyone at the clubhouse.
“I am really mad,” said Lamey. “There are a lot of people in the community that do nice things for us and it’s sad that this happens to good people.”
The van was fairly new to the clubhouse and they have had a chance to use it twice before it was stolen.
“We use it for transporting our members out to events and here to the clubhouse,” said Lamey. “They go out and work hard in the community, taking away garbage etc. they are doing great things and now someone comes and does this to them.”
Lamey feels that the clubhouse has had enough damage done to it in the recent months and did not need this theft to add to the frustration.
“We’ve been broken into twice in the last six months,” she said. “And now the van was stolen. I’m just so upset and everyone here feels so violated.”
The person who stole the van had punched the ignition and besides that, Lamey does not know if any other damage has been done.
“It’s still drivable, that’s the good thing,” she said. “Hopefully everything else with the van is still okay.”
Although Lamey was glad the van was found she felt that the whole event that morning was unnecessary.
“Now we have to take the time to go and get it,” she said. “And there’s that expense we have to take care of to get a new ignition.”
“We are happy to get it back,” she said. “The police did a great job and were really helpful. Everyone did a little cheer when we heard the van was found.”