Over the past month, the Cochrane RCMP Crime Reduction Unit has been diligently tracking a couple of Cochrane thieves connected to some stolen, high-end bicycles.

Corporal Troy Savinkoff is pretty thrilled with the recent arrests of Dawn Smith (42) and Michael Richard (28), both of Cochrane after their investigation wrapped up late last week. "Cochrane RCMP was contacted by Canmore RCMP detachment about a bicycle that was being sold on a Kijii account that they believed was one of their stolen bicycles in Canmore, in which it involved an accused that lived in the Cochrane area. Based on that information, we teamed up with the Canmore GIS department and we began tracking two offenders in Cochrane who we believe were involved in the theft of bicycles and selling them on social media."

Part of the RCMP investigation involved an undercover operation in which RCMP purchased a couple of stolen bikes off the suspects. "At the conclusion of our investigation, which was on Thursday of last week, we set up a second purchase of another stolen bicycle out of the Banff detachment, and subsequent to that we arrested them and seized the bicycle." 

A search of the suspect's vehicle and home painted a picture that the two accused, were no amateurs when it came to theft. "When we searched their vehicle we found break-in tools, we found police scanners, and we found evidence of them committing crimes over several jurisdictions. When we conducted the search warrant on their house we found property consistent with theft from vehicles, and we have linked some property to at least one theft from a vehicle in Canmore."

Accused suspect, Smith, is currently facing a long list of charges and there will likely be more forthcoming, says Cpl. Savinkoff. "Right now she has been charged with theft over $5000, trafficking in stolen property, two counts of possession of stolen property, one count of possession of break-in tools, and one count of possession of methamphetamine."

The other suspect, Michael Richard, has also been charged with trafficking in stolen property, possession of stolen property, and possession of break-in tools. "Our investigation into these suspects is still ongoing, in fact, we have several other charges pending against them as more information becomes clear about some of the property we have seized."

Corporal Savinkoff says the suspects certainly knew what components to look for when it came to the bicycles, as the second one they recovered had an original purchase value over $6000. "We believe that these suspects were quite active, not just in Cochrane, but in several communities including Calgary and the Bow Valley. Now that they have been charged, the Cochrane Crime Reduction Unit will be stepping up our efforts to monitor these two offenders who were fairly unknown up until the beginning of this investigation."

It is believed the two suspects were quite criminally active in the Cochrane area over the past while, and Corporal Savinkoff is hoping anyone who may have purchased a bike off of this social media site HERE reports it to the Cochrane RCMP detachment at 403-851-8000. "I would ask that anybody who has dealt with the Facebook account 'Dragun Smith' or has had any interactions with Dawn Smith in the Town of Cochrane purchasing a bicycle to contact the Cochrane RCMP."

Smith and Richard may have also been involved with thefts from resident's doorways, so again, if you recognize them or have video footage, let the authorities know.

Lastly, all bicycles involved in this case have been identified.