Charlottetown police seek public's help to identify break and enter suspects

Charlottetown police are asking for the public's help in identifying two suspects and a vehicle in relation to two recent break and enters in the city.

Police said they believe two suspects were involved in two break and enters in two different Charlottetown neighbourhoods within a two-hour period shortly after 5 p.m. on Nov. 22, said Deputy police Chief Sean Coombs.

One of the break and enters, where a small safe was stolen, was caught on video by the homeowner's security system and released by the Charlottetown police.

Police believe the videos show one suspect walking the exterior of the home and through the house, at various times using a flashlight.

Coombs said police believe the two break and enters are connected.

"Both residential breaks, the victims were both of Chinese descent and at both locations either a large sum of money was taken or very expensive items," he said.

"We do have the suspect captured on video speaking to the other suspect in the vehicle in Mandarin."

Coombs said police were able to get a translation of what was said between the two suspects.

"The basic conversation was that some lights had turned on, and some general conversation as to how the break was going," he said.

Police believe the suspects were driving a white Kia Sedona.

In both cases, the houses were locked and a back window was "smashed," Coombs said.

He said he was "unable to give out the dollar amount on the cash," that was stolen. He also said "high-end designer" women's handbags were stolen in the break-in that wasn't caught on camera.

Coombs said detectives have spoken with both victims and followed up on all their leads.

Looking for public's help

Coombs said police are asking for the public's help to identify the suspect caught on video. The video has been up for about a week, but Coombs said it hasn't gained "much traction" with the public.

"Usually we do seem to get some information on all of our videos that we upload onto our website," he said.

"So it is a little unusual we are not getting any feedback on this one in particular. Especially considering the quality of the video is quite good."

He said break and enters have gone up in Charlottetown, with about 30 more this year compared to last.

"We are mainly seeing a spike in break and enters into sheds and garages," Coombs said.

Lock doors day and night

He said people should make sure to lock their doors "day and night."

"A lot of people think that residential breaks would happen late at night, whereas this one happened in around the 5 o'clock, 6 o'clock area," Coombs said.

"We are quite disturbed by any break and enters into a residential house. We send all those to our major crime unit," he said.

"We take all crimes serious, but when it's a residential break into a person's home we want to come to a conclusion and solve it with arrests."

Anyone with information on this case is asked to contact Charlottetown police or P.E.I. Crime Stoppers.

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