News briefs for Thursday, December 18, 2025

Man sexually assaulted teen: police

2:05 PM

A 25-year-old man has been charged with two sex crimes related to a teen girl he met on social media, police say.

The man contacted the teen in early September, the Winnipeg Police Service said in a news release Friday. The pair met in person on Oct. 12, when he drove her to an undisclosed location and sexually assaulted her, the WPS said.

The next day, and on Nov. 1, the man sexually assaulted the teen at her home, the release said.

Officers arrested a man Monday after the incidents were reported to police. He has been charged with sexual interference and invitation to sexual touching. Louie Peter Baldam was released with conditions, including having no contact with anyone under age 16.

The investigation continues. The WPS asked anyone who wants to speak with an investigator to call its child abuse unit at 204-986-3296 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 204-786-8477 (TIPS).

Officer loses gun magazine

1:07 PM

Police are searching for a pistol magazine filled with 17 rounds of ammunition that was lost in Westwood on Wednesday.

The black magazine was lost “during the course of an officer’s duties,” the Winnipeg Police Service said in a news release Thursday.

“Efforts are continuing to locate the magazine,” the WPS said.

Police asked anyone who finds the item to turn it in at any police station, or to call the non-emergency line at 204-986-6222.

Two snowmobilers missing since early Monday

11:34 AM

RCMP are searching for two snowmobilers who did not return home after going for a ride.

Kyle Mason, 28, and Taryne Mason, 27, of St. Theresa Point First Nation left the community early Monday. Island Lake RCMP were contacted about them at 12:45 p.m. Wednesday, RCMP posted on social media that evening.

Police asked anyone who has seen the pair or knows where they were headed to call 204-456-2626.

Man fishing on Lake of the Woods feared dead

10:41 AM

A man is presumed dead after a vehicle is believed to have gone through the ice on Lake of the Woods.

RCMP were contacted about a missing 71-year-old man shortly before 9 p.m. Tuesday. He had driven to his ice-fishing shack on Buffalo Bay, near Manitoba’s borders with Ontario and Minnesota, in a side-by-side utility-terrain vehicle earlier that day.

The shack is about five kilometres north of the Buffalo Point marina, RCMP said in a news release Thursday.

Mounties could not search the ice Tuesday night. Using a drone Wednesday, they found tracks headed to the shack and then to a pressure ridge — a pileup of ice fragments.

In a separate incident, two people are presumed dead after a pickup truck went through the ice on Cedar Lake. Grand Rapids RCMP were called about that incident early Tuesday.

Two men died after they fell through ice in Kinosao Sipi Cree Nation and Pimicikamak Cree Nation on the same weekend in late November

Blizzard prompts school closures, bus cancellations across province

6:53 AM

A blizzard that’s working its way across the province has prompted school divisions to cancel buses and classes.

School bus service has been cancelled for Louis Riel, River East Transcona, St. James Assiniboia, Seven Oaks, DFSM, Pembina Trails and Winnipeg School Divisions.

The closures include:

• Garden Valley School Division
• Hanover School Division
• Interlake School Division
• Lord Selkirk School Division
• Prairie Rose School Division
• Red River Valley School Division
• Sunrise School Division
• Turtle Mountain School Division
• Division Scolaire Franco-Manitobaine has closed all of its schools within Winnipeg’s Perimeter Highway. Additional closures include: Lagimodière, Gabrielle-Roy, Réal-Bérard, Saint-Joachim, Pointe-des-Chênes, Saint-Jean-Baptiste, Sainte-Agathe, Noël-Ritchot, Aurèle-Lemoine, Gilbert-Rosset, École Régionale Notre-Dame, La Source, Saint-Lazare, Jours de Plaine, Saint-Georges

The University of Manitoba has also cancelled classes. Red River College Polytechnic is closing its Notre Dame Campus, Exchange District Campus and Stevenson Winnipeg campus until 11 a.m.