Man charged after allegedly stolen construction equipment was seized west of Edmonton

Alberta RCMP says a man has been charged after construction equipment was allegedly stolen in January.

Mounties say on Jan. 20 and 26, officers in Breton and Thorsby received reports of a stolen excavator and bulldozer from a property in Brazeau County — around 120 km west of Edmonton.

Aerial view of a property in Brazeau County where RCMP seized construction equipment that was allegedly stolen. (Credit: Alberta RCMP)

Police later received information regarding a possible location of the alleged stolen items, and were able to use a drone to confirm the suspision.

On Feb. 11, through an investigation, RCMP executed a search warrant at the property located along Range Road 254 in Wetaskiwin County and were able to find and seize the following:

3 semi tractors;

7 trailers;

a skid steer;

2 tractors,

a sea can that had contained a significant amount of industrial hosing ($175,000);

a vehicle; and

numerous pieces of machinery.

“These items were linked to 16 separate theft occurrences from numerous RCMP jurisdictions including Parkland County, Wetaskiwin County, Fort Saskatchewan, Leduc County, and Ponoka. Two occurrences were linked to thefts in Edmonton,” said RCMP in a statement.

During that time, officers were also able to take four people into custody. Three of the four were released pending a further investigation.

Alberta RCMP provide an update on their investigation into allegedly stolen construction equipment in Brazeau County. (Zach Dafoe, CityNews)

Meanwhile, Richard Joseph Zukowski has been charged with 14 counts of possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000.

“This is yet another example of the harm that a small group of prolific offenders can cause,” says Sgt. Kelly Kraal of CAD CRU. “Having a dedicated group of investigators, both trained and equipped to focus all available efforts on these types of offenders, has an overall effect of dropping crime rates.”