A thief who served one day in jail for a string of thefts and break-ins in Olds and the surrounding area, and then was again arrested for breaking and entering and theft 36 hours after his release, will serve two years in prison.
Jason Todd Furlong, 39, still has to answer to three additional burglary charges that were laid against him this past fall in Innisfail. Furlong is facing July 30 and Sept. 9 break and enter charges in connection to burglaries at Innisfail's Home Hardware store, as well as a break and enter charge as a result of an Aug. 21 incident at the Spruce View Co-op. Alberta Justice officials said a court date for Furlong to deal with these charges has not yet been set.
Furlong was arrested after midnight on Dec. 4 along with Jason Kevin Campbell, 32, when police found they had cut a hole in a fence of a compound at the B and M Home Hardware Building Centre near the intersection of Highway 27 and 65 Avenue.
Police have said in the past that Furlong and Campbell are from Olds.
Investigators had followed footprints in the snow to the compound after they had received reports earlier in the night that the men had been seen attempting to remove propane canisters from vacation trailers parked in the area of 61 Avenue near the Olds Mobile Home Park.
On Dec. 16, Furlong and Campbell both pleaded guilty to two charges each of breaking and entering a structure that is not a dwelling, theft under $5,000 and mischief to a property under $5,000 in relation to the Dec. 4 arrest.
Furlong received a sentence of two years in prison and was ordered to pay $22,160 in restitution and Campbell received a six-month jail term.
Charges of breaking and entering with intent and breach of probation connected to the arrest were stayed for each man, although Campbell pleaded guilty to an additional charge of breach of probation.
Both men had been released from prison 36 hours before the Dec. 4 arrest after serving time for other break-in and theft-related crimes.
Furlong was arrested in Sundre on Oct. 28 along with Kevin Leischner, 42, of the Olds-Torrington area when police pulled over a Ford F-350 pickup truck in a Sundre industrial area that was stolen from Olds Concrete on Oct. 4.
The truck was loaded with stolen property including copper wire, tools, a generator and electronics, police said.
He was convicted on Dec. 2 of possessing stolen property exceeding $5,000 in value, breaking and entering, theft and theft over $5,000 in relation to the Sundre arrest.
He was handed a six-month conditional sentence that included a provision that he remain in his home or on his property 24 hours a day, seven days a week, as well as a probation order and the one day in jail.
Campbell had also been released from a provincial correctional facility as a result of a conviction for property related offences and was bound by a probation order.
He was arrested Feb. 26 with another man while looking for property to steal in the area and break-in tools and a disguise were found in their possession. Campbell was charged with three counts of possessing stolen property under $5,000, possessing break-in tools, a provincial offence of entering land without permission, fraud, driving while disqualified, possession of property obtained through crime and theft of a motor vehicle.
Police were not able to clarify if it were these charges that Campbell had been serving time for when he was released from prison prior to the Dec. 4 arrest.
While he was in custody following the Dec. 4 arrest, Furlong was also served with a summons to appear in court to answer to six charges of breaking and entering that were laid against him on Nov. 13 and relate to thefts at Olds businesses on June 14, July 2, Aug. 27, Sept. 5, Sept. 12 and Oct. 4.
The sentence handed to him on Dec. 16 took into account four charges of breaking and entering with intent.
Leischner was charged with possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000, breaking and entering, possessing break-in instruments, theft over $5,000, theft under $5,000 and obstructing a police officer following his Oct. 28 arrest in Sundre.
He has also been charged with four additional break-and-enter charges relating to thefts from Olds businesses on June 14, July 2, Aug. 27 and Sept. 5.
He will next appear in court in Didsbury on Jan. 6 to answer to one break-and-enter charge relating to an incident in October in Didsbury and again on Jan. 7 in Red Deer to answer to three other break-and-enter charges relating to incidents in July and August in Innisfail, and an incident in Spruce View, a hamlet roughly 20 minutes west of Innisfail, in September.
Leischner will then appear in Didsbury court on Feb. 24 to answer to four counts of breaking and entering with intent, four counts of possession of property obtained through crime, breaking and entering at a location that is not a dwelling, possession of break-in instruments, three counts of theft over $5,000, fraudulent concealment, altering or removing a vehicle identification number and obstructing a police officer.
The Olds Albertan has not yet been able to verify whether all these charges relate to Leischner's arrest on Oct. 28 in Sundre or the subsequent investigation.
He is also scheduled to appear in court in Didsbury on Feb. 5 to answer to a charge of theft of a credit card and two counts of using or possessing a stolen credit card in relation to an incident in Olds in May, and will then appear again in Didsbury on Feb. 12 on three charges of possession of stolen property, unauthorized possession of a firearm and a contravention of a regulation made under the Firearms Act respecting the storage, handling, transportation, shipping, display, advertising and mail-order sales of firearms and restricted weapons in relation to an incident in March in Olds.
Furlong and Leischner were two of four people arrested in October and November in connection to break-and-enters and thefts in Olds and other Central Alberta communities dating back to April.
As part of the investigation sparked by the arrests of Furlong and Leischner, Sundre RCMP executed a search warrant on Oct. 30 at Sundre's Sun Plaza Motel where they recovered a large amount of stolen property.
In the wake of the investigation in Sundre, police from Olds and Three Hills searched a rural property between Olds and Torrington in early November where Leischner was residing and recovered property stolen from a number of businesses in the Olds and Innisfail areas.
Police in Olds and Innisfail continued to identify suspects connected to the stolen property and as a result of the ongoing investigation, the Olds RCMP searched a residence at 5129 51 St. in Olds on Nov. 8 and recovered between $30,000 and $40,000 in stolen property.
Some of the items recovered at the residence come from break-ins that happened in Olds earlier this year, police said.
Olds police reported at least two break-in and theft sprees in town this year including a spree in April where six homes were broken into and a spree in late August and early September where thieves targeted roughly a dozen businesses in Olds and Bowden.
The other two people charged in Olds in relation to this matter are Michael Kelm, 37, and Natalie Carriere, 43, both of whom resided at the 51 Street home.
Kelm is charged with 19 counts of possessing stolen property under $5,000 and one count of possessing a restricted revolver firearm.
He will appear in Didsbury court on Jan. 20 to answer to these charges.
Carriere is charged with 19 counts of possession of stolen property under $5,000 and will appear on Jan. 20 in Didsbury.
Kelm will also appear in court in Vegrevilleóa town located roughly three hours northeast of Oldsó on Jan. 6 to answer to 10 charges of possession of stolen property in relation to an arrest near Vegreville on Christmas Eve.
Two Hills RCMP arrested Kelm at a rural residence northwest of Vegreville in Lamont County on Dec. 24 on an outstanding warrant from Olds for theft of a motor vehicle.
Police said they found a stolen pickup truck and a stolen 2014 Yamaha motorcycle valued at more than $10,000 in Kelm's possession at the time of the arrest.
Two days later, police executed a search warrant at the same residence where Kelm was arrested and recovered more than $50,000 in stolen property.
The owners of the property, Marvin and Marlene Lesnik, have also been charged with possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000.
Kelm was remanded into custody and police are currently trying to return the stolen property to its rightful owners.
The investigation into the break-in and theft sprees in this area has included police from Olds, Innisfail, Sundre and Didsbury.
With files from Johnnie Bachusky.
