Firearm, drugs and RCMP uniform seized during search

A Yarmouth man has been charged with various offences after a search of a Yarmouth residence that the RCMP say turned up a loaded .22 calibre rifle, a quantity of cocaine and a pair of pants and a shirt belonging to an RCMP uniform.

Whose pants they are and where they came from was not known at the time.

Asked if the RCMP clothing found inside the home was authentic, RCMP Corporal Jennifer Clarke said, “Oh yeah, they’re real.”

“Were they stolen?” she was asked.

“We don’t know. We’re following up,” she said.

“Did any members report losing their pants?” she was asked during an interview with the TriCounty Vanguard last week. “We don’t know where they came from or who’s they might have been so we’re following up on that,” she said.

Forty-one-year-old Dean Anthony Thibeau of Yarmouth was arrested in Yarmouth on Oct. 25, the same day a residence on Lewis Lane was searched. He was held in custody overnight and has been charged with the following offences:

• Possession of Cocaine for the Purpose of Trafficking;

• Careless use of a firearm;

• Unsafe storage of firearms;

• Possession of weapon for dangerous purpose;

• Unauthorized possession of a firearm;

• Possession of a firearm when knowing possession unauthorized.

Thibeau appeared in Yarmouth Provincial Court on Friday, Oct. 26, and was released on an undertaking. He was due to appear in court again on Monday, Oct. 29.

The RCMP say the Yarmouth/ Clare Street Crime Enforcement Unit (SCEU) began an investigation on Oct. 14 that resulted in the search of a residence on Lewis Lane on Oct. 25. Members of Yarmouth Town and Rural Detachments assisted the SCEU unit in this investigation.

The RCMP say had they learned that firearms offences had occurred at the residence earlier in the week.

Asked to elaborate on the type of offences, Corporal Jennifer Clarke said part of it dealt with unsafe storage issues.

“Careless use is definitely one of them,” she said. When asked if this was directed at another individual she said yes, it was.

On Oct. 25, the RCMP obtained a search warrant for the home. During the search police seized a loaded .22 calibre rifle, ammunition, a quantity of cocaine and packaging material. Police also found the RCMP uniform pants and a shirt inside the home.

An Oct. 26 RCMP media release said that a resident of the home had been arrested on Oct. 22. That person, Cpl. Clarke said last Friday afternoon, was a 43-year-old Yarmouth woman the police are actively trying to locate in connection with these incidents. She will be facing the same charges as Thibeau, the RCMP said.

Her name has not been released as she has not been charged yet, nor was a description released. Asked if the RCMP needed the public’s help to locate the woman Cpl. Clarke said the RCMP know who it is they are looking for.

“We just need people to know that we are looking for this person and I fully expect this (information) to generate enough information that we’ll find her,” she said.

The Tri-County Vanguard sought an update on this case prior to our Monday, Oct. 29 press deadline but did not receive one.

The investigation is ongoing.