Several firearms were among more than $100,000 worth of stolen property recovered from a rural property east of Okotoks on July 30.
Okotoks RCMP were called in at around 9 p.m. that evening to help Calgary Police officers who followed a stolen vehicle to a rural property in the MD of Foothills.
Okotoks RCMP obtained a search warrant for the property after investigators noticed a number of items that had been reported stolen.
As a result of the search, police recovered several firearms, including handguns, a Winchester shotgun and a Remington semi-automatic rifle. Other items included a John Deer Gator, a 2011 GMC 3500 truck, a 2003 Honda CRF150 motorcycle, a 1999 BMW 328i, a horse trailer, an Outback travel trailer and various pieces of tools and equipment.
Okotoks RCMP Sgt. Sukh Randhawa said it’s alarming to find this many stolen firearms on a property.
“It is concerning to us because it’s a stolen firearm to begin with and these stolen firearms can be used in a crime somewhere else,” he said.
He said the guns were legally purchased and owned by their rightful owner before being stolen.
“In this case the owner of these firearms was forthcoming to police and reported these guns were stolen,” he said.
He said he doesn’t believe that they would have been used in the commission of a crime.
He said they continue to investigate the property and the significant quantity of other items found.
“It’s a concern for us as well about what kind of place this was if these people were just using it to dump stolen properties,” he said.
Amanda Heino, 30, was arrested at the scene without incident and is now facing several charges, including two counts of unsafe storage of a firearm; two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm; three counts of possession of stolen property obtained by crime worth more than $5,000; one count of possession of property obtained by crime worth less than $5,000; and two counts of breach of release conditions.
Heino was remanded into custody and was scheduled to appear in Calgary Court on Aug. 2.
