Williams Lake, B.C. – Two people have been arrested and are facing charges in Williams Lake.

Twenty-seven-year-old Nickolas Frederick Ivany and 24-year-old Alana Mike Ward, both of Williams Lake, have now been charged criminally for the possession of property investigators believe to be stolen from the three separate evacuated homes. Ivany has also been charged with willfully obstructing a police officer and possession of a controlled substance.

Police say there was a total of seven break and enters last month in Williams Lake – four of which were reported pre-evacuation (July 15).

“Our investigators had linked those remaining three break and enters, after two suspects were taken into custody on July 11 and search warrants were subsequently executed by the Williams Lake RCMP General Investigation Section at various locations on July 12,” says Cpl. Jessie O’Donaghey, spokesperson for the RCMP in Williams Lake.

“This favourable outcome is no doubt a direct result of our team’s hard work and enforcement strategies being front loaded during the onset of the local state of emergency, prior to the full-scale evacuations of Williams Lake,” adds Insp. Jeff Pelley.

“The RCMP will continue to remain diligent on this front locally, with the remaining areas still under an evacuation order, as we continue to actively target our current offenders involved in property crime.”