Standoff suspect back in custody
PINCHER CREEK MAN BREACHES RECOGNIZANCE
Less than three weeks after being released on bail, a Pincher Creek man is back in custody and facing new charges.
Dewey Todd Starzyk was arrested last week and charged with one count each of breaching his recognizance and drug possession.
Pincher RCMP reported they stopped a vehicle shortly after 10 p.m. Friday and, during a search, found a small amount of cocaine. The driver was also in contravention of a court order that he obey a nightly curfew.
Starzyk, 53, is scheduled to address the charges today during a hearing in Pincher Creek provincial court. At the same time he will speak to charges stemming from a standoff with police last month.
Pincher Creek RCMP responded to a complaint early in the morning Feb. 8 that shots had been fired. Police initially reported they had been fired upon when they approached a residence. From that a lengthy standoff ensued until Starzyk was taken into custody by the RCMP Emergency Response Team seven hours later.
Starzyk is charged with careless use of a firearm, breaching conditions of a recognizance and three counts of uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm, stemming from the standoff. He also faces two charges of failing to report a lost weapon and two charges of contravening firearm storage regulations, which stem from unrelated incidents in 2016.
The Crown said during the subsequent bail hearing in Lethbridge that officers were certain they heard a gunshot after they arrived at the residence, but Calgary lawyer Sean Fagan said a gun was not fired, and what police heard could have been a door being slammed shut.
Starzyk was released on $3,000 bail and several conditions, including that he submit to random police searches and requests for breath samples. He was ordered to abstain from alcohol and drugs, avoid contact with three specifically named individuals, not go within 50 metres of the home in which he was residing with those individuals, and obey a curfew between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. every day.