The Stettler RCMP are on the hunt for a Bad Santa, and are hoping people in the community may have insight to a brazen Christmas eve robbery.
Around 4:45 p.m. on Dec. 24, a man dressed as Santa Claus entered Wares Jewelers in Stettler and proceeded to rob the store at gunpoint. The man, described as a "pocked-faced" Caucasian around five-foot-eleven-inches tall, entered the store wearing Santa Claus' jovial red and white winter suit, wore gloves and a fake beard and hat. Despite the suit, he didn't appear to have Santa's girth, being described as slim and skinny.
The bad Santa made off with an undisclosed amount of precious stones in a hummer SUV-type of vehicle, driving away on Main Street.The vehicle was later found abandoned on a residential street in Stettler, and surveillance video from the area appears to show that the suspect was picked up by someone driving an older-model pick-up truck, "possibly a Chevrolet, extended cab or crew cab with chrome running boards," Stettler RCMP detachment commander Sgt. Phil Penny said.
No one was harmed during the commission of the offence, Penny noted.
Police continue to investigate, but the RCMP are asking anyone with information to phone the detachment at 403-742-3382 or anonymously phone Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS(8477).