Two people charged after stolen mail recovered
Two people have been arrested and charged after Didsbury RCMP recovered stolen mail.
Banking information, magazines and government and personal cheques were stolen in the spree of thefts from rural mail boxes in the Red Deer, Innisfail, Carstairs, Didsbury and Strathmore areas.
On Monday at about 4:45 a.m., Didsbury RCMP were called to a report of a suspicious vehicle at a rural residence near the intersection of Hwys 766 and 580, west of Carstairs. When police arrived, they located two occupants sleeping in a Ford F-350, which had been reported stolen from Calgary several days earlier.
Sgt. Jeff Jacobson, Didsbury RCMP, said the two people who were arrested were known to police and the thefts were not isolated to one day.
“Possibly over several days, I believe the truck stolen out of Calgary was stolen several days prior to when we came across them,” said Jacobson. “We believe they’ve been out and about for a few days.”
With Olds RCMP providing backup, the two vehicle occupants were arrested. It was discovered they were in possession of mail from numerous rural mail boxes throughout Central Alberta.
Police also located locks cut off of mail boxes and a set of bolt cutters inside the vehicle.
As well, keys and financial information stolen from a vehicle in Carstairs on Oct. 21 were recovered. A set of rural mail boxes stolen from an area east of Didsbury has yet to be located.
The owners of the recovered mail have been contacted.
“With the victims in this particular case, certainly they feel their privacy has been violated,” said Jacobson. “They were quite upset to hear their mail was in someone else’s hands.”
Heather Joan Renshaw, 24, and James Ralph Tortorelli, 29, both from Calgary, have been jointly charged with 18 counts of possession of stolen property and possession of break-in instruments. Tortorelli is also facing resisting arrest charges and Renshaw is facing breach of probation and obstructing a peace officer charges.
Renshaw and Tortorelli were scheduled to make their first court appearance today in Calgary.
mcrawford@reddeeradvocate.com
