Charges could be laid Friday in business trashing incident

RCMP expect a suspect alleged to have caused roughly $25,000 worth of damage to an Olds business to be charged this Friday (Oct. 17) with break and enter and mischief.

Olds RCMP Cpl. Mike Black says the charges have not yet been sworn against the suspect but he's hopeful that will occur on that date in Calgary.

Once that's done, he says the suspect's name can be released and the matter will proceed in court in Didsbury.

The break-in occurred Aug. 31 at Torrock Towing.

Co-owner Judy Schlichenmayer was phoned at about 2:30 a.m. that day. She co-owns the company along with her son, Darcy.

She says the front office, boardroom, common area and bathroom were trashed.

"He cut himself up really badly and bled all over the place so everything's had to be (thrown out); all the furniture, the couches, the bathroom," Schlichenmayer says. "Everything's been gutted."

As a result of the bathroom trashing, flooding occurred, so the floor has to be replaced, along with at least part of the walls.

Renovations to the building are expected to begin this coming week.

"He phoned police and said somebody was chasing him and trying to kill him and he was in a dark hole somewhere," Schlichenmayer says. "When they attended to the office he was already outside. He had one shoe on and the other shoe was still in the building. He let himself out the front door."

She says the accused said he and at least one more person were involved but police only have evidence that one person is responsible.

Cpl. Black confirms that's the belief of police.

"We only have one suspect at this point," he says. "There are no other signs that others are involved."

Schlichenmayer says total damage is estimated to be about $25,000. She has insurance for the building but she has to pay the $4,000 deductible.

An initial cleanup has been done but the company has still been inconvenienced. For example, any faxing that needs to be done has to be done in another business because the Torrock fax machine was trashed.

Schlichenmayer is hopeful that in the end, some restitution will be paid.

In the meantime, she says, "I don't know whether to kill him or pray for him."

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