Province mugshot nails escapee
Frank Luba, The Province
Published: Sunday, August 10, 2008
Dean Douglas Sykes escaped from North Fraser Pretrial Centre by tricking officials at the maximum security jail into thinking he was someone else.
But he couldn't fool a sharp-eyed Province reader in Bridal Falls, who recognized Sykes from the photo splashed across the front of Friday's edition and alerted police.
RCMP arrested Sykes shortly afterward for escaping from lawful custody -- something he'd done before in 2005 using the same trick.
Const. Tara Harrington of the Upper Fraser RCMP said Sykes, 39, had stopped at a market in Bridal Falls, a little community 16 kilometres east of Chilliwack, to pick up a copy of The Province.
"He joked to the attendant that he looked like the male pictured on the front page," said Harrington. "The clerk agreed, phoned the police when he left and Sykes was arrested without incident approximately 5:20 a.m. on Highway No. 1 near Hope."
Sykes apparently escaped by swapping identification with another prisoner at North Fraser who was serving his time on the weekends.
Sykes took the place of that man -- 42-year-old Timothy Broadbent -- in Port Coquitlam Provincial Court Tuesday. He was returned to North Fraser and released under the assumption that he was Broadbent, who had been serving a sentence for fraud and possession of stolen property under $5,000.
As he was released, Sykes was given Broadbent's personal effects, including the keys to a white 1993 Plymouth Voyager van that he drove off in.
Broadbent later alerted police to the deception and was re-arrested for assisting in the escape of a prisoner.
It is not the first time Sykes has bluffed his way out of prison. In September 2005, he used an identical ruse to walk out of the Edmonton Remand Centre. He was arrested two months later by Grand Prairie RCMP who were conducting an investigation into stolen property.
Harrington agreed that it was a case where the media helped the Mounties get their man.
"It was basically as a result of that picture in the paper that that attendant would have known it was [Sykes]," Harrington said.
The store owner was requesting anonymity Friday and the attendant could not be reached after finishing the night shift.
Sykes has an extensive criminal record that includes assaulting a police officer, pursuits, unlawful confinement and, according to media reports, an additional 2005 arrest for being unlawfully at large.
His escape was the second in a year from North Fraser Pretrial Centre. Persian gangster Omid Tahvili got out of the jail with the help of B.C. Corrections officer Edwin Ticne and has not been recaptured. Ticne was sentenced Friday to a three years and three months for his part in the escape.
John van Dongen, B.C.'s solicitor general, said he will look closely at the internal investigation launched in the wake of the latest escape from the high-security facility.
"Certainly, security is our number one concern, and we will ensure that all of the recommendations from the internal review will be implemented," he told CBC.
Five recommendations were put into effect following the conclusion of the first internal investigation following Tahvili's escape.
© The Vancouver Province 2008
I don't know, I think this guy could be a candidate for Canada's dumbest criminal...
Frank Luba, The Province
Published: Sunday, August 10, 2008
Dean Douglas Sykes escaped from North Fraser Pretrial Centre by tricking officials at the maximum security jail into thinking he was someone else.
But he couldn't fool a sharp-eyed Province reader in Bridal Falls, who recognized Sykes from the photo splashed across the front of Friday's edition and alerted police.
RCMP arrested Sykes shortly afterward for escaping from lawful custody -- something he'd done before in 2005 using the same trick.
Const. Tara Harrington of the Upper Fraser RCMP said Sykes, 39, had stopped at a market in Bridal Falls, a little community 16 kilometres east of Chilliwack, to pick up a copy of The Province.
"He joked to the attendant that he looked like the male pictured on the front page," said Harrington. "The clerk agreed, phoned the police when he left and Sykes was arrested without incident approximately 5:20 a.m. on Highway No. 1 near Hope."
Sykes apparently escaped by swapping identification with another prisoner at North Fraser who was serving his time on the weekends.
Sykes took the place of that man -- 42-year-old Timothy Broadbent -- in Port Coquitlam Provincial Court Tuesday. He was returned to North Fraser and released under the assumption that he was Broadbent, who had been serving a sentence for fraud and possession of stolen property under $5,000.
As he was released, Sykes was given Broadbent's personal effects, including the keys to a white 1993 Plymouth Voyager van that he drove off in.
Broadbent later alerted police to the deception and was re-arrested for assisting in the escape of a prisoner.
It is not the first time Sykes has bluffed his way out of prison. In September 2005, he used an identical ruse to walk out of the Edmonton Remand Centre. He was arrested two months later by Grand Prairie RCMP who were conducting an investigation into stolen property.
Harrington agreed that it was a case where the media helped the Mounties get their man.
"It was basically as a result of that picture in the paper that that attendant would have known it was [Sykes]," Harrington said.
The store owner was requesting anonymity Friday and the attendant could not be reached after finishing the night shift.
Sykes has an extensive criminal record that includes assaulting a police officer, pursuits, unlawful confinement and, according to media reports, an additional 2005 arrest for being unlawfully at large.
His escape was the second in a year from North Fraser Pretrial Centre. Persian gangster Omid Tahvili got out of the jail with the help of B.C. Corrections officer Edwin Ticne and has not been recaptured. Ticne was sentenced Friday to a three years and three months for his part in the escape.
John van Dongen, B.C.'s solicitor general, said he will look closely at the internal investigation launched in the wake of the latest escape from the high-security facility.
"Certainly, security is our number one concern, and we will ensure that all of the recommendations from the internal review will be implemented," he told CBC.
Five recommendations were put into effect following the conclusion of the first internal investigation following Tahvili's escape.
© The Vancouver Province 2008
I don't know, I think this guy could be a candidate for Canada's dumbest criminal...
