Investigators have had a break in the bizarre case of people connected to New Westminster's Justice Institute of B.C. being targeted for shootings and arsons.
Though no one has been harmed in any of the incidents, police say three more cases have arisen since the link was made public in September.
Lower Mainland RCMP announced Wednesday that a former Insurance Corporation of B.C. employee is currently under investigation.
"We can now state the investigation revealed a link to an ICBC employee, who allegedly accessed personal information of 65 individuals, including the 13 identified victims. That employee, along with other individuals, is under continued police investigation," said Chief Supt. Janice Armstrong, operations officer for the Lower Mainland District Regional Police Service. "ICBC has cooperated fully with the police investigators, assisting us in contacting and warning those whose information was compromised. Additionally, police continue to pursue significant investigative avenues to determine if others could be at risk."
JIBC spokesman Chris Wong said the victims have mostly been JIBC staff and former students and a few "loosely linked" to the school, though he added other details remain part of the police investigation.
The incidents have occurred throughout the Lower Mainland and do not target any specific area. None have occurred at the Justice Institute in New Westminster, or its campuses in other locations, according to police.
JIBC president Jack McGee offered a statement, saying the fact that the incidents continue to happen is worrisome.
"We are very concerned that there have been additional incidents," he said in a police press release. "The safety and security of our students, staff, faculty, and the public who use our campuses is of paramount importance to JIBC. Enhanced security put in place at JIBC campuses remains in effect."
Wong said the victims and JIBC staff still do not know what the motive may have been.
"We really have no idea. It's completely perplexing to us," he said. "We don't have any information that explains any of the motivation behind this."
Wong said incidents have been a topic of discussion among JIBC staff and students, but the business of the institute carries on.
"We've maintained quite a bit of communication with our staff and faculty and students and of course, people are concerned, but they're being very professional and quite resilient in as far as going ahead with doing their jobs," he said.
Wong said the news offers some comfort, but real the relief will come when someone has been held accountable.
"We're encouraged that the RCMP continues to work quite tirelessly on this and that there has been this development but we're not going to be satisfied until there is a successful conclusion to the investigation," he said. "We continue to fully cooperate with the RCMP, and we look forward to a successful resolution, hopefully soon."
Meanwhile, ICBC president Jon Schubert said the person under investigation has been fired without severance.
"We are appalled that one of our employees inappropriately accessed the information of so many customers without any apparent business reason to do so," Schubert said in the release. "Our main concern is for the customers who have suffered as a result of this privacy breach."
He added that ICBC is taking steps to strengthen customer privacy and data security.
"We have conducted a thorough internal and an independent external review of our systems as a result of the privacy breach and have taken steps to better guard against this type of incident from happening again," he said.
Anyone with information that could assist the investigation is still asked to contact local police or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
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