Two charged with armed robberies in Golden and Princeton
By Nelson Daily Staff
Two men from the South Okanagan have been charged in a pair of armed robberies in Princeton and Golden.
The alleged robberies occurred just weeks apart and were believed to have been committed by the same suspects.
Charged are 28-year-old Lucas Holman and 32-year-old old Travis Hutzul . Both men are from Penitcton.
The pair made a court appearance in Invermere Wednesday (February 27), each charged with two counts of Robbery.
Holman was remanded into custody until March 12 while Hutzul pleaded guilty to two counts of Robbery, receiving a sentence of one-year in custody per count.
The first incident occurred in Princeton on (Wednesday) January 30 when at approximately 12:21 p.m. RCMP received the report that two males had robbed the Princeton Shoppers Drug Mart pharmaceutical counter at knife point.
Both males brandished pocket knives during the robbery and fled through the rear door with a large amount of prescription medication.
The second occurred in Golden on (Saturday) February 16 , shortly before 2:28 p.m. The Golden RCMP received an indentical report that two males entered the Peoples Drug Mart, went directly to the pharmaceutical counter.
Once behind the counter one of the suspects htreatened the pharmacist with a knife and demanded that he turn over narcotic type prescription drugs.
The pair again obtained a large quantity of drugs and fled the store last seen on foot.
The pair were arrested without incident on February 22 in a mobile home just outside of Golden.
Evidence related to the robberies was also located during the arrests. The investigation into both robberies was completed by the Penticton South Okanagan Similkameen RCMP General Investigation Section, the Princeton and Golden RCMP with investigative support by local Forensic Ident units
As result of some good basic information sharing and tenatious police work, investigators from two BC RCMP jurisdictions were able to link the two crimes in short order, quickly identifying the suspects and arrested the two accused before they had a chance to possibly re-offend and cause any further risk to public safety, RCMP Cpl Dan Moskaluk.
