A man accused of breaking into a Tamarisk home last week faces criminal charges following a nearly seven-hour search that ended in his arrest, while officers work to reunite owners with stolen property recovered during the investigation.
According to a release, Sea to Sky RCMP first responded to reports of a break-and-enter at a townhouse along the 1400 block of Alta Lake Road in Whistler at about 9:17 a.m. on Tuesday morning, June 6.
Witnesses at the scene told police a man wearing a high-visibility vest had broken into the unit while its residents were home, before fleeing in a white vehicle. Police conducted “extensive patrols” throughout the resort Tuesday morning, but did not locate the suspect.
The trail grew hotter at about 1:10 p.m. the same day, when Whistler’s RCMP detachment was alerted to a suspicious-looking man reportedly matching the description of the intruder, spotted near a white vehicle in Creekside.
Responding officers seized the vehicle in question for further investigation. Police still weren’t able to find the suspect until about two hours and 40 minutes later, when Whistler RCMP heard reports of a man seen trying to hop a fence near Lakeside Road in Alta Vista at 3:50 p.m.
Police located the man and arrested him for suspected breaking and entering.
Fabian Jackson Daley has since been charged with one count of breaking into an occupied dwelling and two counts of possessing stolen property under $5,000. At the time of his arrest, Daley was also wanted on an outstanding warrant in Surrey, where he faces three counts of breaking-and-entering and one count of robbery. The suspect is not a Whistler resident, confirmed Const. Katrina Boehmer, media relations officer with Sea to Sky RCMP's Whistler detachment, in an email on June 7.
None of the above allegations have been proven in court.
Daley was due to remain in custody until his next court appearance, scheduled to take place in North Vancouver on Thursday, June 15. Daley is also slated to appear in Surrey Provincial Court the following day, June 16.
“This is an excellent example of how information provided by the public assists us in conducting our investigations,” Boehmer noted in the release. “The reports received of the suspicious male and suspicious vehicle enabled the investigating officers to locate and arrest the suspect, and to seize evidence.”
Still, Whistler RCMP’s investigation into the incident remains ongoing. In the release, police said investigators are working to identify the owners of presumably-stolen property located during the investigation and reunite those individuals with their belongings.
RCMP included a photo in the release showing some of the recovered goods. Among the items pictured are three bikes, an inflatable paddleboard, laptops, a helmet, a baseball bat, and tools, to name a few. (Scroll up to the photo gallery at the top of this article to view the image.)
Police ask anyone in Whistler who may have been a victim of theft early last week—between Monday, June 5 and Tuesday, June 6, approximately—to contact the resort’s RCMP detachment at (604) 932-3044.
On June 7, Boehmer confirmed Whistler RCMP had received "a number of calls for service" related to thefts the previous day, but said at the time she was unaware of any other complaints about break-and-enters.
Stay cognizant of people who look 'out of place,' or may be posing as workers in residential areas, warns RCMP
In a phone call hours after the reported break-in, a caretaker working at the Tamarisk apartment complex recalled a "two-second interaction" he had with a man matching the description of a suspect accused of breaking into a unit while its occupants were home that morning.
Tim Angeloni said he was exiting one Tamarisk building when he encountered a man wearing a hi-vis construction vest, who was leaving a neighbouring building through its front door.
"I said, 'Hi, how are you doing?' And he's like, 'fine,' and I noticed he had no teeth. And then in one second he was around the side of the building, and I could hear him muttering back there ... and swearing under his breath," Angeloni recalled.
"And then just at that moment, the resident came out around the other side of the building and said, 'We just got broken into, were you just in our unit?'" Angeloni continued. Confused, Angeloni said he wasn't. "Then it clicked. I started running after the way that guy went, but we never found him."
A female resident allegedly saw the man "rooting through stuff," in the unit, Angeloni added.
In the release, Sea to Sky RCMP encouraged locals to stay cognizant of people who might look “out of place” in residential areas. “We have seen, in the past, individuals posing as workers wearing high-visibility vests who hope to blend into the environment, but who are actually looking to commit offences such as break, enter and theft,” Boehmer explained. “We want to make sure that Whistler isn’t the place where these individuals come to conduct their business, and we can all work together to make that happen.”
Sea to Sky RCMP ask anyone with information to share about the above file to contact Whistler’s detachment by phone at 604-932-3044, or get in touch with Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS or solvecrime.ca to stay anonymous.
