A Victoria woman is issuing an appeal to the public to keep their eyes and ears open after a thief stole her vehicle and later attempted to rob her apartment.
The last time Rachel Spanier saw her blue Hyundai Accent hatchback was at 10 p.m. on Saturday, August 31st after moving her belongings from her old apartment on Gorge Road East to her new place in the 400-block of Chester Ave.
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She parked the car by her new apartment on Saturday night and went to bed only to be woken up at 6 a.m. on Sunday by a cell phone call from the buzzer of her previous apartment building.
“I didn’t think anything of it and ignored the call. When I got up that later that morning, I realized that my keys were missing as was my car,” Spanier tells Victoria Buzz.
Upon speaking to the building manager on Sunday, Spanier was able to find records of her key fob being used at the front door at 5:55 a.m., and further records of the buzzer call to her cell phone.
The attempted robbery
Spanier assumes the thief acquired her previous address by checking the insurance papers in her vehicle, and that by calling her cell phone, the would-be robber was checking whether she was at home.
The thief then proceeded to enter the building through the front door and go up to her apartment. Fortunately, the suite was empty as she had just moved to her new place.
Victoria Police have been notified of the theft and according to the latest update, have surveillance footage of the suspect.
While this footage has not been made public, Spanier says police told her that it shows the thief switching the back license plate of her vehicle to an expired Alberta plate.
Anyone who has information about this theft or has seen the vehicle pictured above is asked to contact Rachel Spanier by emailing her at rachelspanier@hotmail.com, or VicPD at 250-995-7654.
