After months of searching and investigating various crimes, the RCMP have their men.
Lyle Vance, 25, and Lyle Anderson, 26 — both residing in the Mirror and Alix area — were captured separately last month with each facing a number of charges relating to crimes going back to January.
The pair were being sought for their involvement is a series of criminal activities around central Alberta.
It all began on Jan. 31 with Blackfalds RCMP looking into a break and enter plus an assault at a hotel located along Red Deer’s Gasoline Alley, where police identified Vance as a suspect.
The trail continued on Feb. 24 when Bashaw RCMP opened an investigation into three robberies of people that took place earlier in the month. Officers determined both Vance and Anderson were suspects in these crimes. Police later learned the pair were suspected of fleeing from police during a Feb. 22 incident in Sylvan Lake.
Multiple warrants had been issued for both men, so in mid-April the Bashaw RCMP got the newly formed Rural Crime Reduction Project involved in tracking down the repeat offenders.
Anderson was located and arrested without incident on April 16 by Ponoka RCMP. He is facing around 20 different counts including robbery, theft and flight from police. Anderson was remanded to custody until his next court appearance May 10 in Red Deer.
However, it would more than week for police to catch up to Vance, but not until another serious crime was committed.
Around 4:45 p.m. on April 25, RCMP in Red Deer attended the scene of a reported carjacking and potential kidnapping of a woman, who was assaulted by a man before her van was stolen by the suspect alleged to be Vance. Both the suspect and woman are known to each other and police are still investigating the incident.
As a result, members of the Rural Crime Reduction Project — combined with ongoing intelligence — were able to locate and take down Vance a little more than an hour later in the community of Mirror.
Vance is now charged with over 40 separate counts — including assault, theft, flight from police and carjacking — resulting from the months long crime spree. He was remanded to custody to await his next court appearance also on May 10 in Red Deer.
“My detachment recognized the need to apprehend these individuals responsible for a significant amount of both property and violent crimes” said Bashaw RCMP detachment commander Sgt. Bruce Holliday.
“This is a great example of the benefits of this type of crime reduction project and the support provided to rural detachments in the province. This arrest meets the goal of the crime reduction strategies we are implementing.”
