Stop sending violent criminals home, says mayor

By Roy Wood

The recent crime spree and eventual arrest of a violent career criminal has once again prompted the town of Oliver to seek help from the provincial government.

Mayor Ron Hovanes and Councillors Mo Doerr and Petra Veintimilla hope to meet with BC Attorney-General and Minister of Justice Susan Anton to argue against the release of “dangerous and prolific offenders” back into their small communities.

Ronald Teneycke was arrested by RCMP near Cawston last Thursday following a short chase. He was wanted on a number of warrants. He is suspected of robbing the Eastside Grocery in Oliver last week and of shooting Wayne Belleville of Oliver. Teneycke is alleged to have posed as a hitchhiker and, when Belleville stopped to pick him up along Baldy Forest Service Road, shot him and stolen his truck.
Teneycke remains in custody in Kamloops while police and the Crown finalize the charges against him.
Hovanes told the council meeting Monday that allowing a serial offender like Teneycke, who was born and raised in Oliver, to return to the small town puts a strain on police resources and the community at large.

Hovanes recalled that in 2007, when Teneycke finished a 12-year prison sentence for sexual assault, he asked then for help from the province and didn’t get it. He was told that barring Teneycke from his home town would be a violation of his charter rights. “The whole system has failed,” said the mayor. “They know he’s going to re-offend (yet) they allow him to reside here (where) there are no probation facilities.”

Teneycke, 52, is a career criminal with a long and violent record. Since his release in 2007 he has been in and out of jail, mostly on probation violations and drug-related offences. He has also faced explosives and firearms charges. Town staff will seek a meeting with Anton at the Union of BC Municipalities convention in Vancouver in late September. “We need to send them a strong message from a small community,” said Hovanes.