Suspect now tied to 3 armed robberies
Smoking could prove fatal to a Penticton robbery suspect’s defence.
Court documents obtained by The Herald show the suspect in the September 2021 armed robbery of the EZ Vape shop at Riverside Plaza was arrested late last year on the strength of DNA evidence from a cigarette butt found at the scene.
What’s more, police have used video footage of the EZ Vape robber’s shoes to link him to two other armed robberies that took place in November 2022.
The suspect is identified in court documents as Brandan Kurt Neuman, 37. He has been charged with two counts — robbery and possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose — in relation to the EZ Vape incident.
Neuman has not, however, been charged in connection with the robberies of Gables Liquor Store in Penticton on Nov. 21 or OK Falls Market on Feb. 23.
In all three robberies, a single male of large stature with his face covered entered the businesses, produced a gun, demanded cash, then slipped away.
Neumann made a brief appearance Wednesday in provincial court and had his case adjourned to Feb. 22 to give him time to seek legal counsel. He remains free on $5,000 bail.
Details of the police investigation are contained in an application for a search warrant filed Dec. 1, 2022, by Penticton RCMP Cpl. Brent Huff.
Huff sought, and received, permission to search Neuman’s car and home in the Heritage Hills neighbourhood for evidence related to the November 2022 robberies.
Police were primarily looking for a distinctive set of shoes and mask that were seen in surveillance footage obtained during the robberies.
The shoes — white, with black trim and grey toe cap — worn by the EZ Vape robber appeared to match those worn by the Gables robber. And the mask — black with a white skull on it — worn by the EZ Vape robber appeared to match that worn by the OK Falls Market robber.
Neither of those items was recovered during the search on Dec. 1, according to an exhibit sheet attached to the search warrant, but police did seize a black pellet gun that matched the description of those used in the November robberies, along with black overalls similar to those worn by the suspect.
Penticton RCMP spokesman Const. Dayne Lyons said in an email Wednesday the November robberies “are still under investigation and will be forwarded to the BC Prosecution Service for consideration in due course, and so we will reserve comment on those investigations right now.”
The warrant application also spells out how police linked Neumann to the EZ Vape robbery.
Around 8 p.m. on Sept. 21, 2021, Neuman allegedly entered the store, aimed a shotgun at an employee, then made off with cash and product.
Police caught a break the next day, when Const. Trevor Stetsko visited a nearby business and retrieved surveillance footage showing the suspect smoking a cigarette near the EZ Vape shop just before going in.
“The suspect male was observed taking a drag from a cigarette before discarding it on the grass beside the walkway while walking toward the store. Const. Stetsko could tell the cigarette was lit as he observed the flare from the end illuminate on the camera footage,” explained Huff.
Stetsko then walked over to the location where the cigarette was dropped and found a single butt there.
“Const. Stetsko could tell the cigarette was discarded lit as there was burnt ash near the tip of it,” noted Huff.
The butt was sent away for DNA testing and it came back as a match for Neuman based on a sample of his DNA that was already in a national police database, according to the court documents.