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Incident at Red Deer gas station leads to extortion charge

A Red Deer man was charged with extortion after an incident outside a gas station in South Red Deer early Saturday morning.

A Red Deer man was charged with extortion after an incident outside a gas station in South Red Deer early Saturday morning.

Red Deer City RCMP were called at 7:30 a.m. after a man got into a vehicle waiting near Petro-Canada, located on the 3300 block of Gaetz Avenue, and allegedly threatened the driver with harm if he refused to comply with the suspect’s demand for money.

When the driver refused to hand over money and his passenger returned from the gas station, the suspect exited the vehicle and got into a nearby van.

Police located the van and arrested three male occupants without incident.

Tyler Coombs, 27, was charged with one count of extortion and two counts of failing to comply with conditions of a recognizance.

Coombs was remanded and is to appear in Red Deer provincial court on Friday.

The other occupants of the van were released without charges.