Police weren’t fooled in stolen truck case

A 27-year-old Fort Macleod man being investigated for driving a stolen truck managed to throw police off the scent, but not for very long.

Police were called to the Chinook Regional Hospital in March where an employee told them Robert Harry Taggart was visiting his father. She said Taggart had told her on a previous occasion that he was driving a stolen truck, and when she bumped into him at the hospital and noticed he had arrived in a pickup truck, she was concerned it may be stolen.

Police found the vehicle parked nearby and noted the truck and licence plate were stolen from the Carmangay area. Police set up surveillance and watched a man and woman get in the truck and start the engine. When police approached the man he identified himself as Jeremiah Johnson and said he was a friend of Taggart, who owned the vehicle and who was in the hospital visiting his father.

After Johnson tried to call Taggart on his phone but didn’t get a response, he offered to go into the hospital and get his friend for the police. He gave police the keys to the truck, and went into the hospital while police monitored the vehicle.

A couple of officers went into the hospital and spoke to Taggart’s father, who said his son had left about 30 minutes earlier. The description he gave police matched that of Johnson whom police encountered earlier, and subsequent reviews of hospital security video proved it was actually Taggart.

Police found Taggart at a residence shortly afterward and he was arrested for possession of stolen property and obstructing police.

Taggart, who is currently serving a sentence at the Fort Saskatchewan Correctional Centre, pleaded guilty to both charges Tuesday in Lethbridge court of justice and was sentenced to 60 days in custody.