In Hot Pursuit – Border Crossing Fugitive Apprehended
In October 2004, C.I.S. Head Office received a call late on a Wednesday afternoon from a corporation in Utah. An employee of theirs who had an arrest warrant on charges of company embezzlement had fled the US and was believed to be hiding out with family members in Hamilton, Ontario.
Through interception of E-mail communication on a company computer it was believed that the subject was going to be fleeing to either Edmonton or Calgary and possibly leaving that night. Obtaining a Canadian Arrest Warrant takes time and paper work and the client did not want to lose the trail of the subject while this was being prepared so C.I.S. was contacted
A C.I.S. investigator dropped everything and headed to the residential location in Hamilton. Upon arriving, the subject’s vehicle was already running on the street and being packed with personal belongings. Upon closer observation of a man packing the vehicle, it was determined that it was actually the female subject disguised as a man.
A pail of mud was brought onto the street by a family member to cover over the Utah license plates. Within half an hour, the subject left from the Hamilton area and mobile surveillance began. A second C.I.S. investigator was called in to assist, as maintaining discreet surveillance over such a potentially long distance is problematic for one investigator.
The C.I.S. investigators then maintained covert surveillance as they travelled north over the next three days through Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Kenora and into Winnipeg, Manitoba. The C.I.S. investigators leapfrogged on the highways, strategically fuelling, passing food between each other’s windows and taking turns sleeping in their vehicles while the subject made rest stops.
Late on Friday, word came to the C.I.S. investigators from an official in Washington, DC that an arrest warrant had been issued for an arrest to be made in the Province of Manitoba. Even now, with RCMP and US Marshals involved, the investigators were instructed to continue surveillance of the subject. It meant another night of sleeping in their vehicles with one eye open.
On Saturday morning things came to a climax. After driving up and down along the Canada/US border between Emerson and Winkler Manitoba, the subject finally made an attempt to cross back into the US at the Minnesota/North Dakota Border. With the guidance of the C.I.S. investigators, law enforcement surrounded the subject’s vehicle and the subject was taken into police custody.
Four days of intense focus, thousands of kilometers and two very tired investigators later, C.I.S. wrapped up another job.
