1 week Ago By By Connor McDowell, Local Journalism Initiative
MacGREGOR — It’s the seventh time the family farm has been robbed. Read this article for free: Already have an account? As we navigate through unprecedented times, our journalists are working harder than ever to bring you the latest local updates to keep you safe and informed. Now, more than ever, we need your support.
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MacGREGOR — It’s the seventh time the family farm has been robbed. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? MacGREGOR — It’s the seventh time the family farm has been robbed. In the early hours of Sunday, four suspects were caught on camera on the property of Triple Star Manufacturing, stealing an all-terrain vehicle and slashing the tires of a parked truck.
Farmer Dean Toews told the Sun while standing in his barn Monday afternoon that an ATV had been driven out of a bay door. Camera footage shows a suspect wielding what appears to be a firearm over the hood of a truck. (Submitted) 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.
In total, one pickup truck, two ATVs and several power tools were stolen from the three properties. One neighbour woke in the night to pursue the suspects to the outskirts of Sandy Bay First Nation. Security footage went viral on social media Sunday, showing six suspects jump 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 suspect 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. “That’s where they are willing to go now.” Portage la Prairie RCMP on Monday confirmed a 17-year-old girl from Sandy Bay First Nation was arrested just hours after the spate of robberies.
Police say the girl was found alone in a stolen Dodge Ram truck on the First Nation at about 6 a.m., with help from the Manitoba First Nations Police Service.
MacGregor-area farmer Clint Sigurdson told the Sun he was wakened by a phone call from his 80-year-old mother early Sunday morning. She told him there were people on the property “stealing his stuff,” leading him and his son to get dressed and rush out the door. 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 confirmed belong to him and were stolen earlier Sunday morning. A rifle was seen in the hands of a suspect in camera footage from a rural property near MacGregor. (Submitted) “We saw the lights down the road and so we kind of knew, because there’s not too many people on the road at that time in the morning,” said Sigurdson.
“We caught up to them and they were loading stuff. We spooked them.” For about 30 minutes, Sigurdson said, he and his son tailed the suspects north of MacGregor.
He made multiple phone calls to alert RCMP to intercept the suspects and was directed by police to keep a distance between them. However, he said, police were unable to arrive at that 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 the same First Nation. “It’s pretty disheartening,” he said.
“You work all your life to own stuff. And then someone can come and clean you out overnight.” For Toews, Sunday’s incident marked the seventh time that his property has been robbed in similar fashion, he said.
The most recent theft was two years ago when a farm truck was stolen from his property. The thieves attached a chain to the truck and ripped his gun safe out of the building it was stored in. The displaced safe knocked out a support beam, leading the building’s mezzanine to collapse.
The damage required several different insurance claims to be filed. His guns were stolen from the safe and the truck was later located by police on Sandy Bay First Nation. Triple Star Manufacturing was one of several rural properties in the MacGregor area to be burglarized on Sunday morning.
Suspects parked behind the building on the left and then broke into the middle building to steal an all-terrain vehicle. Farmer Dean Toews told the Sun his property has been hit seven times in roughly 25 years. (Connor McDowell/The Brandon Sun) RCMP said the three break and enters on Sunday near MacGregor have been linked to one group of suspects.
Toews said he saw the same suspect on his video cameras that appears on a social media post taken at another farm. The suspect, dressed in camo, was distinctive in that they wore red devil’s horns. The Toews farm installed cameras roughly three years ago as a result of being burglarized multiple times, Sonya Toews told the Sun.
Dean said that because of Sunday’s robbery, he will install new cameras. In the past, he relocated his security system because the burglars stole the equipment while inside, removing footage of the crime. The repeat offences in the MacGregor area have the community concerned.
Toews said now that firearms are involved, the situation has escalated to a new level. He fears that his property will 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.” In an interview with the Sun on Monday, Municipality of North Norfolk Reeve Ed Heppner encouraged people to be careful in light of Sunday’s events. Generally, he said, he feels the justice system is failing Canadians, and the issue is not unique to his municipality.
“The justice system is failing us — like, basically slap the guys on the wrist and go home, right?” said Heppner. “The punishment doesn’t match the crimes, so that kind of spurs it on. What’s the deterrent?” Toews said the police told him they believe the gun involvement means a higher likelihood of a jail sentence and bail being denied.
Farmer Dean Toews stands beside the tread marks left from his all-terrain vehicle that thieves drove off his property on Sunday morning. Three properties in the area were targeted by robbers who were captured by security cameras, with at least one of them carrying a weapon. (Connor McDowell/The Brandon Sun) Toews’ parents, in their 70s, live on the property that was robbed Sunday morning.
The farm grows corn, beans, wheat and oats, among other things, on 5,000 acres. Going forward, he said he and his family plan to install GPS airtags on his equipment. The airtags provide evidence that helps police obtain warrants, he said, and make it easier to track crime.
“Everybody has stories around here,” said Toews. “It’s just way too common.” » cmcdowell@brandonsun.
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