A keen-eyed Nanaimo RCMP member and a phone tip from a concerned business owner helped bust a break and enter artist in Nanaimo Thursday.
Police were called out at 9:30 a.m. when a homeowner in the 600 block of Bruce Avenue said someone went through her unlocked patio door and took two laptop computers while she was in her backyard picking blackberries. She never saw the suspect, but did notice fresh bicycle tracks in her front yard that led away from her home.
While police were responding, a business owner called to say a man came into his business and tried to sell him a laptop. The information was passed on to a member who spotted a man riding a BMX bike and wearing a shoulder bag several blocks from the break and enter scene.
A search of the man's bag turned up an Acer laptop that had come from the home on Bruce Avenue. Police are trying to retrieve the other laptop, which was dropped off at a drug house.
Const. Gary O'Brien, Nanaimo RCMP spokesman, credited the solving of the case, in part, to the phone call made by the business owner.
Nelson Evans, 35, was charged with three counts of break and enter in Nanaimo provincial court Friday and is being held in custody until his next court appearance Aug. 9.
The charges laid against him stem from the incident Thursday, from a break and enter July 6 on Haliburton Street, where a wallet was stolen and on July 7 on Evans Road where a pellet gun and a Ruger-style handgun were stolen.
Evans, from Ontario, has multiple outstanding warrants for his arrest from that province and from Manitoba for property crimes.
Anyone with information on any break and enters that have occurred in the past month, please call Nanaimo RCMP at 250-754-2345 or contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online at www.nanaimocrimestoppers.com.