Police working on a hunch about a chronic car thief who was recently released from prison got more than they bargained for.

Members of the Calgary Police Service’s High Enforcement Auto Theft Team (HEATT) came to Okotoks on Dec. 3 with the goal of keeping an eye on a local with a lengthy record for stealing cars.

“He was ID’d as a prolific criminal offender,” said Sgt. Ian Shardlow of the Okotoks RCMP.

Shardlow said the HEATT team seeks out known car thieves and investigates their activities.

The suspect was located in Okotoks with his seven-month pregnant wife and a friend in a car stolen from Calgary.

“They followed him all afternoon until an opportunity presented itself,” Shardlow said, adding the officers did not want to end up in a high-speed chase that could endanger the public.

Several times throughout the day police discovered their suspect and his passengers were committing crimes, including using a stolen credit card and breaking into vehicles.

Const. Grant Kneller of the Okotoks RCMP was part of the stakeout and said officers viewed the suspects entering stores or skulking around vehicles only to get a report later from a store owner or car owner that a crime had been committed.

Finally, when the trio entered a convenience store in Okotoks the officers swooped in and made an arrest.

Ryan Joseph Laveck, 28 of Okotoks, Faren Norene Snider, 24 of Okotoks, and Jason Warren Wentworth, 30 of Calgary, are facing 23 charges in total.

Snider was released from jail on Friday on $200 bail. She will return to court later and she was ordered to refrain from using drugs and alcohol and to have no contact with her husband or another man accused in the one-day crime spree. In addition, a curfew of 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. was enacted.

Their charges include possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000, mischief, dangerous driving, possession of a controlled substance, possession of break and enter instruments and breaching probation.

Snider will be back in Okotoks Provincial Court Dec. 15 as will Laveck when he will have his bail hearing. Wentworth was released following his arrest. He will be back in court Dec. 18.

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