By Ryan Pilon

An expensive Easter surprise

Apr 27, 2011 | 6:16 AM

It wasn’t the kind of Easter surprise people in the West Flat area in Prince Albert had wanted.

“Sunday morning, when we were going to church, we noticed that all of the vehicles around here had flat tires on them and noticed they were cut,” said Alex Villeauve, a resident in the 800 block of 12th Street West.

“It’s a really bad situation to wake up to.”

The Prince Albert Police Service said that 18 vehicles, primarily in the 700 to 900 blocks of 12th and 13th Streets West, had their tires slashed sometime during the evening of Apr. 23 or the early morning of the 24.

“It left a lot of people here that don’t have that kind of money to go buy new tires right away pretty mad,” Villeauve said.

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Daniel Dodge lives directly across from Villeauve and he is also upset that he had to replace one of his tires.

“Well, it’s expensive … my tires were brand new on there, now I have a spare on there, now I have to get a new tire. It’s probably $100,” Dodge said.

Dodge said he believes the tires were slashed with a knife.

“When I looked at the tire, you could see a one-inch wide hole, like a knife hole. Definitely a knife,” said Dodge.

Sgt. Kelly McLean with the Prince Albert Police Service said that damage is estimated to be worth thousands of dollars in total.

“We have reason to believe that it’s one individual, or a group of individuals, that’s responsible for this. The damage to these vehicles was very, very similar. The cut marks are very similar. There’s never more than two tires and it’s always on the same side of the vehicle.”

McLean is urging anyone with information to call the Prince Albert Police Service or Crime Stoppers. If no one comes forward, McLean said it may be difficult to catch the person or persons who did this.

“Frankly, there’s not a lot of evidence left at the scene for these types of things,” said McLean.

The number for Crime Stoppers is 1-800-222-8477 and you can reach the Prince Albert Police Service at 953-4222.

rpilon@panow.com