Two Calgary residents charged jointly with 18 counts of possession of stolen property related to area mail thefts could face additional charges if found linked to a theft at a Crossfield liquor store earlier this month.
Heather Joan Renshaw, 24, and James Ralph Tortorelli, 29, have both been charged with possession of stolen property, and possession of break-in instruments. They made their first court appearance last Wednesday in Calgary.
Tortorelli already faces additional charges of resisting arrest, and Renshaw is facing charges of breaching probation and obstructing a peace officer.
After the pair's arrest on Oct. 22, RCMP are investigating their link to a theft at the Crossfield Liquor Store on Oct. 2.
Renshaw and Tortorelli were arrested last Monday when Didsbury and Olds RCMP responded to a call about a suspicious vehicle parked at a rural residence near Highway 766 and Highway 580 just west of Carstairs, shortly before 5 a.m.
“When RCMP arrived on scene it was discovered that two occupants were sleeping in a Ford F350 that had been stolen from Calgary several days earlier,” he says.
Mail stolen from rural mailboxes around Carstairs, Didsbury, Red Deer, Innisfail, and Strathmore was found inside the truck, along with bolt cutters and locks cut off of mailboxes.
Jacobson says among the mail were government and personal cheques, banking information, and magazines.
A gym bag containing banking information, keys and other financial information stolen from a vehicle parked at the Memorial Centre in Carstairs was recovered and returned but Jacobson says a Canada Post mailbox has yet to be recovered.
“The set of rural mailboxes stolen from Rge. Rd. 283 have yet to be recovered,” says Jacobson. “We would like anyone with information to come forward or return the mailboxes, in case any other mail is still in the mailbox and we are continuing our investigation.”
He noted that Canada Post has said it would be replacing the stolen mailbox in the near future and that owners of the recovered mail have been contacted.
