NEWS PENTICTON WESTERN
www.pentictonwesternnews.com
3
news
Local real estate heats up chilly market
VOL. 48 ISSUE 5
11
Walk honours cherished memories
page
8
FRIDAY, January 17, 2014
21
entertainment Barenaked Ladies bring grins to SOEC
sports
Prospera pedals in to support Granfondo
VEHICLES VANISH
NEWS PENTICTON WESTERN
Joe Fries
Western News Staff
CO-OWNERS Tony Whiles (left) and Larry Pidperyhora of Penticton Toyota on the lot of the dealership where four new vehicles with a total value of about $170,000, reportedly went missing sometime after they were delivered Monday night.
Mark Brett/Western News
Services Agency at ports in Montreal and Halifax, where last year they seized 500 stolen vehicles worth $8.7 million. The most commonly recovered rides were highend, all-wheel drive vehicles, said Dubin, while the most common intended destination was West Africa, where there’s a well-established distribution network. Most cars stolen for export are put into cargo containers “within an hour or two,” he continued, and placed aboard a ship soon after. Besides sending them overseas, Dubin said, thieves commonly replace a hot car’s vehicle iden-
Four sets of hot wheels that rolled off the lot at Penticton Toyota this week are probably already in a cargo container headed overseas, according to an insurance investigator. The brand-new vehicles and their keys were stolen within hours of being delivered to the dealership Monday night after the close of business. “I’ve never seen anything like this in my 22 years here,” said Penticton Toyota general sales manager Larry Pidperyhora. Missing are a pair of blue RAV4s, a grey 4Runner and a bronze Tundra pickup, all 2014 model that’s been sent to a junkyard, thereby making the years with a combined value of $170,000. stolen wheels legitimate. Pidperyhora said nine vehicles “It’s a buyer-beware situation if were to be unloaded by the transport you’re buying private. We recomcompany Monday and the all keys mend that you buy from a reputable placed into a locked drop box. dealership,” he said, adding pur“It’s virtually impossible to rechasers should also get the vehicle’s trieve these keys after you drop history report and have a mechanic them in the box,” he said, adding inspect the car to make sure all VIN the transport company has insisted, I’ve never seen anynumbers match. though, that its driver delivered all thing like this in my This week’s quadruple theft nine vehicles and keys as usual. marked the second time in three “At any given time I have 150 to 22 years here. months police have been called to 200 vehicles on this property. Night after night, month after month, year — Larry Pidperyhora Penticton car dealership. after year, they’re safe and secure. In October, a 2011 Corvette was Co-owner Penticton Toyota Then, one night, nine land and four driven through a showroom wingo missing? That’s weird,” said Piddow and off the lot of Huber Banperyhora. nister Chevrolet. The manager believes some major planning The car was recovered a few days later in Surwent into the theft. “To me, you don’t steal four vehicles for a joy- rey. “That was pretty brazen and different, too, but ride,” he said. Rick Dubin, vice-president of investigative ser- this is four of them,” Penticton RCMP spokesman vices for the Insurance Bureau of Canada, agreed Sgt. Rick Dellebuur said of the current investigation, which has not been linked to the Corvette cathe heist doesn’t appear to be an amateur job. “This shows signs of organized crime, most per. Although the four Toyotas may be long gone by likely for the purpose of exporting them,” Dubin said, adding Penticton’s proximity to Vancouver now, Mounties would still like the public to keep would make getting the vehicles overseas much an eye out for them. “We all pay the cost of theft, whether it’s shopeasier. His opinion is based on the work of a partner- lifting or stealing cars, through our insurance preship between his group and the Canada Border miums and everything else,” said Dellebuur.
ON-SITE REPAIRS AND MAINTENANCE
Hearing Clinic
ACCEPTING NEW PATIENTS
100% SATISFACTION GUARANTEE
NO CHARGE HEARING SCREENINGS AGE 50+
Call today for your appointment! Cherie Fowlie, HIP
Evelyn Farnholz, HIP
Registered Hearing Practitioner
Registered Hearing Practitioner
Patrick Mulligan, BC-HIS Debbie Mulligan, BC-HIS Board Certified in Hearing Instrument Sciences
Board Certified in Hearing Instrument Sciences
Colleen Mah, BC-HIS Board Certified in Hearing Instrument Sciences
PENTICTON
471 Ellis Street 250.492.5255
OSOYOOS
8303 - 78th Ave. 250.495.6535
OLIVER
Oliver Place Mall 250.498.4544
SUMMERLAND 9523 Wharton St. 250.494.8778
We are currently accepting new patients at Beltone Hearing Clinic. Our full service offices in Penticton, Summerland, Oliver and Osoyoos are here to help you with all your hearing needs. Registered Service Providers for Worker Compensation, RCMP, First Nations and Private Insurance. VAC Health Identification Cards Accepted. We Service All Makes and Models of Hearing Aids.