POLICE: Bomb scare at Credit Union unintentional
By Erin Perkins
Grand Forks RCMP will not be laying charges against the person who left the briefcase on the doorstep of the Grand Forks and District Credit Union earlier this month.
“We did determine who left the brief case there and we did question that individual,” said Grand Forks RCMP staff sergeant Jim Harrison. “We’re positive we can say that there was no criminal intent, so the matter is concluded.”
On the morning of Wednesday, Oct. 3 Grand Forks RCMP had to evacuate the 37 credit union staff and everyone else within a 300-foot circumference for the entire day after a suspicious looking briefcase was found sitting on the front step of the bank.
A dog bomb detection unit was even brought in from Kelowna before the briefcase was deemed safe enough to open, from a distance.
There was no bomb.
“We felt it was mischief, but (after interviewing the Grand Forks man) there was no intent from him to cause problems for anybody,” said Harrison.
Piche hearing
Allen Piche, charged with criminal charges for production of and possession of for the purposes of trafficking in, marijuana in 2010, was told the resolution of his case has again been postponed until Nov. 21, 2012.
Piche, a 66-year-old Fife area resident, was charged with feeding dangerous wildlife in 2010 when human fed habituated bears were discovered on his property as RCMP conducted a search for a marijuana grow operation. He pled guilty to the charges and agreed to stop feeding under order from the Ministry of Environment’s conservation office.
He was charged again in the fall of 2011 with the same offence as a result of a covert investigation conducted between June and October, and again pleaded guilty. He was fined $6000 for both counts, the highest penalty ever in Canada.
Piche’s case for the marijuana charges has been before the courts multiple times over the past six months and he is awaiting a final decision from the courts.
