Two men face criminal charges for robbing the Wind Mobile store in the 900 block of 12th Street last weekend.
Around 5:40 p.m. on June 20, a lone male suspect entered the building and displayed what appeared to be a handgun to the store employee, according to a press release from the New Westminster Police Department. The man then demanded the store safe be opened, not for the money, but for the cell phones inside.
“Obviously smart phones nowadays are, from what I understand, $500 and up, so they have a value to them,” said Sgt. Chad Johnston. “I don’t know the quantity that were taken, but of course, something like that can be turned into cash on the street.”
Police say after the safe was emptied, the suspect and an accomplice, who was reportedly keeping an eye out during the robbery, fled the store in a nearby vehicle.
NWPD’s Major Crime Unit is investigating, and with the help of other units, two men were arrested.
Twenty-two-year-old Tyler Tonino Ciampelletti of Delta and 32-year-old Landon Richard Savard of Burnaby have both been charged with one count of robbery and one count of using an imitation firearm while committing or attempting to commit an indictable offence.
“Anytime there’s a situation where somebody indicates or tries to portray something as a handgun, it’s not something taken lightly by ourselves, the police department, and the courts, so these are actually pretty serious charges,” Johnston told the Record.
He added Ciampelletti, who was arrested a few hours after the incident, was released from custody and is currently bound by several court-imposed conditions. Savard, who was arrested three days later, remains in custody awaiting his next court appearance on July 6.
