Image Credit: Trent Leggett

By Adam Donnelly

PROPERTY CRIME

Heffley Creek Store owner angry after break-in leaves him holding $20,000 bill

Jul 5, 2023 | 5:02 PM

KAMLOOPS — Just before 4:00 am Monday (July 3), a pair of thieves smashed their way into the Heffley Creek Store and in around four minutes, made off with more than $12,000 worth of merchandise.

“They took the drawers where we secure the cigarettes and tobacco,” Trent Leggett, store owner, explained to CFJC Today. “Basically all the whiskey you see, the cream whiskey, they cleaned it right out. From the Wiser’s to the Gibson’s. Alberta Pure, Forty Creek, all gone. And then they helped themselves to some ice cream, propane tanks and some ice, if you believe it or not.”

It’s a brazen burglary that has Leggett struggling, both emotionally and financially.

“The loss of inventory that was stolen, the cleanup and the repairs, it’s a $20,000 bill,” Leggett says. “A small business like ours, you can’t really take that kind of a hit.”

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Leggett has a pile of high-quality videos of the crime, caught on the store’s numerous security cameras. He decided to upgrade the system just a few years ago. RCMP say that kind of evidence can go a long way in helping catch these kinds of criminals.

“Anytime someone does capture something on video, it can be extremely helpful to progressing an investigation,” Kamloops RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Crystal Evelyn says.

For Leggett, he plans to make further improvements to the security measures he has in place in the 126-year-old building.

However, he’d like to see fundamental changes to the way our justice system deals with this kind of crime, and these kinds of offenders.

“I’m not oblivious to the fact that it’s a chronic problem in Kamloops specifically, but also B.C.,” Leggett says. “I feel bad for the RCMP because they’re doing their job. It’s just the Crown seems to let these criminals walk. The comment that was made to us at the time was, ‘Try to secure your store more because they’ll probably be back.’”