MacGregor farmers bemoan latest armed break-and-enters

MacGREGOR — It’s the seventh time the Toews family farm has been robbed.

Farmer Dean Toews told the Brandon Sun, standing in his barn Monday afternoon, an ATV had been driven out of a bay door on his property early Sunday.

Four suspects were caught on camera at Triple Star Manufacturing, stealing an all-terrain vehicle and slashing the tires of a parked truck, said Toews.

Pointing to the mud-tire tracks, he said he was one of three property owners in the area to fall victim to a string of robberies on the weekend.

Security footage went viral on social media Sunday showing suspects jumping out of a truck on a property outside MacGregor at 3:30 a.m. At least one of them carried a weapon, which appeared to be a scoped rifle.

The video footage shows one person leaning over the hood of a truck, pointing a firearm at the home while others run toward nearby buildings.

“These guys are obviously emboldened to carry guns around and start pointing guns at houses,” said Toews.

Portage la Prairie RCMP were called about thefts involving the same group of culprits in the Rural Municipality of North Norfolk between about 3:30 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. Sunday, Mounties said Monday.

The suspects gained access to shops on the properties and stole all-terrain vehicles, power tools and a pickup truck.

RCMP said a 17-year-old girl from Sandy Bay First Nation was found alone in a stolen Dodge Ram truck in that community at about 6 a.m., with help from the Manitoba First Nations Police Service.

Police have not announced charges against the teen or said whether other suspects have been identified. Mounties released surveillance images of four masked suspects Monday.

MacGregor-area farmer Clint Sigurdson said a phone call from his 80-year-old mother early Sunday woke him up, warning him people were stealing on his property.

Sigurdson said he drove a kilometre from his property and encountered several people on the side of the road loading an ATV into a truck.

The suspects fled when he arrived, leaving tools on the side of the road that Toews said belong to him and were stolen earlier that morning.

“We spooked them,” said Sigurdson.

For about 30 minutes, Sigurdson said, he and his son tailed the suspects north of MacGregor. He made multiple phone calls to alert RCMP and was directed by police to keep a distance. However, he said, police did not arrive in time.

He said he then followed the suspects north on Highway 50 to a spot outside Sandy Bay First Nation.

This wasn’t the first time Sigurdson was hit by thieves. Two years ago, he said, an ATV was stolen off his property and later recovered at Sandy Bay.

“You work all your life to own stuff. And then someone can come and clean you out overnight,” he said.

For Toews, Sunday’s incident marked the seventh time that his property has been robbed in similar fashion, he said.

He said he saw the same suspect on his video footage that appeared on a social media post taken at another farm.

Toews said now that firearms are involved, the situation has escalated to a new level. He fears he’ll be targeted again.

“They’ve been on the yard — maybe they’ve seen some things they want to come back for,” said Toews. “It’s just unnerving.”

Municipality of North Norfolk Reeve Ed Heppner encouraged people to be careful.

Generally, he said, he feels the justice system is failing Canadians, and the issue is not unique to his municipality.

“The punishment doesn’t match the crimes, so that kind of spurs it on,” he said.

Toews’ parents, in their 70s, live on the property that was robbed. The farm grows corn, beans, wheat and oats, among other crops, on 5,000 acres.

He said he plans to install GPS airtags on his equipment to give police evidence of thefts. They already have security cameras.

Progressive Conservative MLA Jodie Byram (Agassiz) raised the spree of break-and-enters during question period Monday, pointing to the videos making the rounds online.

She accused Justice Minister Matt Wiebe of “failing Manitobans on community safety” and “putting lives at risk.”

“So this minister’s Step 1 of (his) so-called public safety plan was letting armed thugs terrorize rural families… What’s Step 2, more excuses?” Byram asked.

In response, Wiebe pointed to the NDP government’s funding for public safety initiatives, including money for local law enforcement.

Speaking with reporters later, Byram said armed thefts are on the rise on rural properties. “It’s certainly increasing,” Byram said.

— Brandon Sun, with files from Erik Pindera and Carol Sanders