Four charged after string of vehicle thefts in Leader area

LEADER - Four people from Medicine Hat, Alta., are facing a series of charges after RCMP linked several stolen vehicle reports in the Leader and Kindersley areas earlier this month.

Leader RCMP said the investigation began Oct. 5 after a vehicle was reported stolen overnight from a business in Leader. Officers later found the vehicle in the Kindersley RCMP detachment area.

Over the following week, between Oct. 9 and 12, police recovered several more vehicles that had been reported stolen from Kindersley, all located in the Leader area.

Investigators arrested four suspects — two in Liebenthal on Oct. 10 and two in Leader on Oct. 12.

Amber McNab, 31, Daniel Vierling, 32, Jeffrey Lawless, 40, and Andrea Christianson, 47, are each charged with possession of break-in instruments.

Lawless faces several additional charges, including theft under $5,000, two counts of motor vehicle theft, break and enter and commit, and possession of ammunition while prohibited.

Christianson and Lawless are also charged with break and enter with intent, while Christianson and Vierling face an additional charge of possessing property obtained by crime. Lawless and McNab are each charged with theft of a motor vehicle, and McNab faces another count of motor vehicle theft.

McNab appeared in Swift Current provincial court on Oct. 14. Lawless was scheduled to appear there Oct. 22, while Christianson and Vierling are expected to appear in Leader provincial court Nov. 20.

RCMP said the investigations into the connected thefts are ongoing.