A town house project on 101 Avenue was vandalized early Tuesday morning. Initial estimates place the damage at $20,000. – Morinville News Staff Photo
By Morinville News Staff
Morinville – Charges are pending against a 21-year-old Morinville man who is a suspect in causing approximately $20,000 in damage to a construction site on 101 Avenue near the Royal Canadian Legion Branch. Constable Yelena Avoine of the Morinville RCMP Detachment said police received a report of glass being broken at the site around 5 a.m. Tuesday morning.
Avoine said approximately five of town house project’s units were damaged and that the damage was predominantly to patio doors and windows. It appears construction equipment was thrown through the windows and doors.
On arrival police observed a male matching the description of the suspected vandal leaving the scene. However, police believe more than one person was involved. “It was reported as a group,” Avoine said. “When the officer arrived he saw one individual, possibly linked to the vandalism.”
The suspect fled and a foot chase ensued. “The individual ran into the backyard of a residence,” Avoine said, adding it is believed the suspect severely injured himself on broken glass as a result of the vandalism. “Once he was arrested, [it was observed] the injury was so bad the officer had to call the ambulance and he was transported to the hospital.”
The constable said blood was found on one of the doors at the site of the vandalism and that police will be using that as evidence.
The suspect was still in hospital as of Wednesday afternoon. Charges of mischief and resisting arrest are pending his release from hospital.
Constable Avoine said alcohol is not believed to have been involved; however, drugs may have been a factor though it is not yet known at this time.
Police are not linking this recent act of vandalism with others that have plagued the community this summer; however, Avoine said the initial complaint of group involvement is in keeping with other vandalism reports in Morinville over the past couple months.
“The investigation is on-going,” she said. “We are trying to identify who was possibly with him because we know there was other people with him. We just don’t have any names right now.
Trend towards older participation
Although complainants often identify potential troublemakers to police as teens, Constable Avoine explained it is often anything but.
“When people call to report people out and about at two or three in the morning, they hear noise or see vandalism, they always say it looks like a group of teenagers,” Avoine explained. “Sometimes when we do arrest people, what we’ve been noticing the last couple of months is that they are over the age of 20 … which makes us think that it is often drunk people, young adults just not being mature, coming out of the bar and doing things like that.”
[SUBHEAD]Another young adult arrested in unrelated matter
RCMP received a call Aug. 17 around 12:30 in the morning from a resident reporting someone was trespassing on their property. On their arrival police arrested a 21-year-old Edmonton male for Trespassing at Night.
“He was remanded in custody because he had already charges pending against him from a previous charge in Morinville,” Avoine said, adding the man, whose name is not being released, was schedule to appear in Morinville Provincial Court Aug. 23.
Avoine said police received complaints prior to midnight of an individual being seen around parked cars in the area of the Morinville Condos. When arrested, the trespassing suspect was searched. “The officer found lots of change in his pocket and things that could have been taken from vehicles,” she said, adding no licences or identifiable documentation was found on his person that would link the suspect to particular thefts from vehicles that night. “We thought with the time and what he had on him, he could have been linked to those break and enters of vehicles.” On June 13 the suspect had previously been charged with thefts from vehicles in Morinville.
