They went out to catch one wanted man, but instead nabbed another person — and a substantial quantity of restricted weapons.
Members of the Lac La Biche RCMP's Crime Reduction Unit arrested a local man on Tuesday afternoon after going to a Bonesville-area home to arrest another man. RCMP say the CRU team pulled up to the home of a person wanted on outstanding warrants when they saw another person exit a vehicle near the home and run towards it. That person was also recognized as having outstanding warrants.
Police arrested the man, and during the initial investigation say they observed a rifle with a prohibited magazine inside the vehicle he had run from. The rifle was loaded. Police report they also found a loaded sawed-off .22 calibre rifle in the vehicle along with what they described as "a large quantity" of ammunition, a prohibited spring-assisted knife and a machete.
Keenan Lyle Cardinal,19, of Beaver Lake Cree Nation has been charged with three counts of careless use of a firearm, four counts of unauthorized possession of a weapon, possession of restricted firearm, three count of failure to comply with release order, and two counts of unsafe storage of firearm.
Cardinal has been remanded into custody following a judicial hearing. He is scheduled to appear in Lac La Biche Provincial Court on Feb. 1.
The man who the local Crime Reduction Unit had originally planned to arrest at the Bonesville home was not located, says RCMP spokesperson Const. Chantelle Kelly.
The Bonesville subdivision is located five kilometres south of the Lac La Biche hamlet alongside Highway 36.
