On Sept. 30 at approximately 2:00 p.m. a Rimbey RCMP member noticed a suspicious vehicle parked in the parking lot of the Servus Credit Union in Rimbey.
The vehicle, a blue Ford F-150, had been reported stolen from Sylvan Lake five days earlier. At the time, there was a female behind the wheel and a male just outside the truck. Both failed to comply with demands of the officer and the male jumped in the passenger side.
The truck then rammed the police vehicle several times before fleeing north out of Rimbey. This original pursuit was eventually terminated for public safety reasons.
About a half hour later, Sylvan Lake members in the Rimbey area assisted and located the same suspect vehicle, this time, with the male driving and female as passenger. The vehicle again failed to stop for police and a short pursuit was again terminated for public safety reasons.
Police members positioned themselves in the area and were able to re-locate the vehicle and successfully deploy a spike belt on Hwy 766 and Hwy 12. The suspect vehicle was eventually disabled and the suspects drove off the highway down a ditch in an effort to escape. Both occupants fled on foot but were caught immediately.
This same vehicle and suspects had been involved in a gas and dash in Sylvan Lake early that day and also a residential break and enter that was interrupted by an observant neighbour. At that time, the male suspect had been wearing a bandana over his face and carrying a hand gun.
Items from the earlier break and enter were located in the stolen truck along with a replica .357 Magnum handgun which turned out to be a pellet gun. In addition, police located property belonging to several other people who had previously had property stolen from vehicles in Red Deer and Sylvan Lake.
20 year old Daniel Jordan Buehler of Sylvan Lake and 22 year old Chelsey GERBRANDT of Red Deer were arrested and charged in this event.
Each face a long list of charges including but not limited to break and enter, theft, wearing a Disguise while in commission of an offence, possessing an imitation firearm while committing an offence, possession of stolen property over $5,000 and under $5,000, flight from police, dangerous driving, assaulting a police officer, assault with a weapon, identity theft, possession of weapon dangerous to the public, possession of break in tools, failure to comply with recognizance, possessing a weapon while prohibited from doing so and breach of probation.
No one was injured in any of these incidents and the police vehicle suffered minor damage.
This investigation assisted police in another serious robbery investigation that had occurred at the Canadian Tire in Sylvan Lake the evening of September 14th, 2016.
Daniel Buehler has now been identified as one of two males who attended the Canadian Tire, stealing items from inside and taking off but not before assaulting an employee who confronted them. Buehler was the driver of the getaway vehicle during this incident and has now also been charged with robbery, breach of recognizance and driving while unauthorized to so in relation to this event at Canadian Tire.
The store employee suffered minor injuries. This investigation is still ongoing and police are attempting to identify the second suspect.
Both accused were brought before a Justice of the Peace on Saturday, October 1st. Buehler and Gerbrandt elected not to speak to bail and will both appear in Red Deer Provincial Court on Monday, October 3, 2016 at 9:30 a.mm for their bail hearings.
RCMP wish to thanks members of the public who provided police with critical information that assisted in the successful capture of these two individuals.