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HELP STOP ATV THEFT: Click here for a full description and the serial numbers of the stolen trailer, ATVs and kayaks. —Don McPhail photos

We keep hearing more and more reports of ATV, motorcycle and sled theft. And no matter what sort of precautions are taken, the inevitable still can happen.

We here at RidersWest do all we can to help people recover their stolen property.

On March 7, 2006 at 3:15 a.m., a Wells Cargo trailer with two kayaks and four ATVs were stolen from a household in Peachland, B.C.

Don McPhail, owner of the stolen items and victim of outright theft explains what happened in the following story he has submitted.

Here is my sad story
by DON MCPHAIL

"Don! Quick, get your pants on and get down here!"—it was my wife Judy. She had just answered a knock on the door. Those words still echo in my head.

It was 6:50 a.m., Tuesday, March 7th, 2006, and Judy's voice and tone told me that something was really really wrong. I grabbed a pair of sweat pants—no time for shoes—and ran down the stairs and out into the driveway where my wife was standing with my neighbour Dave, an ex-Vancouver policeman.

We'd had some trouble a week before and it flashed through my mind while I jumped into my sweat pants and ran down the stairs, but really didn't think that it was that again. The look on Judy's face was shock and disbelief.Davehad a frown and a very serious look on his face too.

"The trailer is gone, they've stolen the trailer!" My wife stared at me with a look of despair and panic.

There on the driveway and cut cleanly through, were the two locking cables that I had so carefully laced through the aluminum wheels and frame of my enclosed Wells Cargo trailer. At the end of the driveway was the lock that had been on the tongue, broken in two pieces.

It was just eight days earlier that thieves had stolen my 2004 Ford F350 crew cab diesel from that same driveway! That truck was stolen at 4:05 a.m. and dragged or pushed around the corner into the next street where the thieves got it running and made off with it.

Several people heard the truck start early that morning as it is a diesel and it was a cold morning, but nobody ever looked out the window. If they had, they probably would have recognized my truck and perhaps a lot of this story would be different.

Dave knew about the stolen truck the week before, so when my wife answered the door, he simply said, "Don't tell me," in reference to the empty driveway.

That's when my wife noticed the trailer was gone and called me to come quick. When I got there, all I could do was stare at the big empty spot in my driveway.

"Jeez, not the four-wheelers. Damn!” I lamented.

We called the RCMP of course and gave them a full description of the stolen items. The police sent an officer, so I stayed home to meet up with him. Even before Constable Dar Santos arrived, I had carefully looked over the scene.

They cut the cables, broke the lock, hooked up my trailer and drove out and over my neighbours lawn and that was it, they were gone.

In the process, they ran over Dave's lawn and right over his real-estate sign, and darn if they didn't leave really good tire tracks on it.

When Constable Dar Santos arrived, I pointed out the obvious, and he took some photos of the tire tracks on the sign. He informed me that fingerprinting anything was a waste of time—and it probably was.

That was about it, the trailer was gone and we had no idea when or who and if we'd ever see "our babies" again. I was lucky that my wife keeps good records, because she quickly came up with a list of the four-wheelers, including the serial numbers. Wow, what a break it was to have that information at hand! I also had digital photos of the stolen goods, so I sent them and the photos of the sign to the e-mail address of Constable Dar Santos. He was really happy to get good descriptions and photos so quickly.

Sometime after the shock wore off, the anger started to set. They were lucky I didn't catch them! (I bet everyone has said that once or twice). I really meant it too, but then again, maybe I was lucky that I didn't catch them. I can see the headlines, "Homeowner on trial, criminals walk free and sue homeowner".

Well, it was Tuesday, and it was a very very long Tuesday. That evening I stopped by Peachland Collision and Glass, owned by my buddy Laurie.
Laurie was sympathetic, and while we talked he shared my opinions on the terrible fate that would befall whoever was caught with my babies. Then, just by chance, a buddy of his mentioned that he'd recently heard about a similar theft in Summerland. That caught our attention, so the next morning my wife Judy called the Summerland RCMP and made a chance but important discovery.

That same morning, March 7 that my Wells Cargo trailer had been stolen in Peachland, a Ford F350 was stolen from Summerland. Not only that, but when I did even more digging with the police there, I discovered that another Wells Cargo trailer with ATVs had been stolen in Summerland on the same night that my own truck had been stolen—February 27th. I looped my head around that and it was obvious. They stole my truck and used it to steal a trailer and four-wheelers in Summerland, and a week later, they stole a truck in Summerland to steal my trailer and four-wheelers.

What, a crime ring, right here in my Peachland? I tried to find out more about the stolen truck from Summerland as I felt that there was a very good chance that it had been involved in the theft of my trailer. There was, however, not enough information in the police file to support my idea.

I found out the name of the company that owned the truck and by chance, while it wasn't relevant in the end, they too were from Peachland. The truck had been stolen from an employee who lives in Summerland. The owner of the company was working in the bush, so he couldn't be reached at that time.

I started to do some digging on the origin of the tire tread that was left on the real-estate sign. My digital photos came in handy and I blew them up and cut and pasted them so that I could see the tire tread of the truck used to steal my goodies. My wife had also had the photos printed together with the latest photos of the trailer and ATVs. I took the printed photos and checked at local tire stores. At the second store, the local Kal Tire, I hit pay dirt.

The tires on the truck that stole my stuff were Michelin LTX A/Ttires and they are apparently not a factory item on new trucks. Great, now I knew what tires were on the truck, but the reality of the situation hit home, I have tire prints, but not much else.

Not long after that, the owner of the stolen truck called. He said right away that he had Michelin LTX A/Ttires—wow! OK, so now I felt sure that I could describe the truck that towed away my trailer, but damn, the truck was stolen too, so that didn't get me any closer to the thief or my stuff. Well, there is another clue that I will tell you about right now. When my own truck was stolen on February 27th, it
was recovered in Vernon in the 4200 block of 34th Street.

The police had recovered it three days after it was stolen. Great, I thought at first. It turned out that the truck, while damaged, had not been stripped. They damaged the upholstery and stole a toolbox and most everything else of value inside, but they left my briefcases and some other things that I was glad to have back. The police didn't interview anyone in the neighbourhood, so we had no information on who stole it or their motivation to do so.

I went to Vernon the next day and canvassed the neighbourhood myself. I found a witness who saw a young guy about 20 years old, slim to skinny, about 5'6" and not much more with real short brown hair and a grey hoodie. He had jumped out of the truck at 7:30 a.m. and ran away.

Well, that fit just about every kid in town, so we were still nowhere. I thought then that the motivation was just a ride home for some druggy from Vernon—wrong. Well, he may have been a druggy, but I know now that they had used my truck to commit a crime too.

So now we were really hot to find that stolen Ford F350 from Summerland as we felt it was the truck that had towed away my trailer. It was four long days before it showed up—in Winfield. I had called the police a couple of times to see if it had been located. I had also e-mailed the police that were in charge of my file and the truck stolen from Summerland and asked them to keep me in touch with what's going on and asked for ideas or suggestions. Help was scarce, ideas were none. I asked for information on any similar thefts, especially of trucks, but received no response from the police.

ICBC helped out with a list of stolen trucks but without knowing where they were stolen from, or when and where they were recovered, the information was too late and of no value. I hoped that another truck or two had been found and that they might give me some idea of a consistent drop off point and perhaps a clue as to where some stolen goods are stored or taken to.

The truck that was used to steal my trailer and contents had been left beside a restaurant, right across the highway from the Turtle Bay Pub in Winfield. The lady who runs the restaurant said that she figured it had been there since March 7th and had been left there before 6:00 a.m.—as she starts work at that time—and it was there when she arrived that morning.

This is where it got a little weird. I knew that my stolen truck was found in Vernon and I had been in that area and areas that lead to that same spot several times over several days. I thought that the people who stole my own truck also stole my trailer and that it was possible that they lived in the area. If so, my trailer would be an easy spot—nope.

My wife and I were on our way to Vernon on Saturday the 11th to take yet another look around for our trailer. To get to Vernon we have to drive through Winfield. Just as we got to the north end of town a tow-truck was crossing our path from left to right towing a truck that was instantly recognizable to me, so we chased it down and got the driver to stop. It was the right truck, right plate, right description, right tire type too, but no trailer.

I talked to the local Mountie who didn't know much more than the truck was stolen. He hadn't canvassed the area and didn't offer to, so I did. I discovered not much more than I have already mentioned—it was left there before light and the thieves were long gone, by four days.

My wife and I continued to drive the area until dark checking the local roads, both paved and not, the backcountry to a reasonable extent and the downtown area, especially the run down sections. Zip.

I've been back to the area several times and as I write this the local RCMP in Kelowna have promised me that their local police helicopter will take a quick run over the area looking for my trailer. I reminded them that there was a second trailer of a very similar description stolen and that it may just be possible that they are in the same area.

They are both V-front, drive-through, enclosed trailers, white, with aluminum wheels and checker plated fronts. Ours has a stainless steel nose cap running vertically in the very centre and I think that the other one does too.

I figure that someone out there knows someone else who has just acquired a big white enclosed trailer with nice aluminum wheels.

That someone likely didn't have one before the last week or so. Maybe they live in a semi-remote area or maybe they are right next door. Take a look, see if the serial number plates are still on the tongue. The serial number plate is on the passenger side on a Wells Cargo trailer. Sometimes we catch one thief and we recover a lot of stuff. I hope they are caught and that they own some land or other assets, because after they get charged, I'm gonna sue them and hold that judgment over their heads forever!

I have attached photos of my trailer and the ATVs. My trailer is one of a kind— it's insulated with 'aluminum wheels, is 27 feet long, has black cast iron lock clasps, it is undercoated, and 6'6" inside. It also has a stainless steel nose cap and aluminum checker plate wrapped around the front. It is a drive-through model and the front drop-down door is on the driver's side while there is a small man door on the passenger side. Enclosed trailers are easy to spot, they don't usually have any propane tanks or windows, and mine doesn't either.

My ATVs are pretty much stock and in really great shape. Like anyone, I have done repairs or upgrades to my units that are unique. If you think you see them, call me and tell me what you know. Thanks.

ATV THEFT UPDATE: You just can't put enough locks on anything. The victim is a pretty good investigator and I am sure that has come to the attention of the RCMP but with all the victim's effort it is disappointing that the RCMP and ICBC don't seem to be employing their resources to further the investigation. I know they are swamped with thefts and other non-capital crimes so maybe we all of us have to continously contact our Politicians to increase investigation funds to the Police and push the Courts to stiffer sentences. We all seem to forget that this crime committed on one individual costs all of us in premiums and Police and administration costs. Zero tolerance for drugs and these types of related theft will certainly put a lot of pressure on the bad guys instread of making the good guys pay. Contact your Federal MP and Provincial MLAs on these issues and keep it in fornt of them. The squeeky wheel gets the grease.
—John Sloan, Langley BC

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