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Red Deer RCMP arrest man in two stolen vehicles over one and a half days  

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Red Deer, Alberta – A Red Deer man appears in court today after RCMP arrested him in two different stolen vehicles within the space of a day and a half. In court, he will also speak to a theft file from the summer in the downtown, in which he was arrested during the commission of a theft by the Red Deer RCMP Crime Reduction Team and then later arrested again in the December warrant round-up.

Shortly before 8 pm on January 28, RCMP located the suspect in a stolen vehicle parked in a busy north Red Deer lot, thanks to a tip from the public. RCMP blocked the vehicle in to prevent it fleeing and endangering pedestrians and drivers in the parking lot; the male suspect got out of the vehicle and was arrested without incident. RCMP seized methamphetamine from the suspect during his arrest. The vehicle had been stolen that morning out of Red Deer when it was left running and unlocked.

Brandon Loughlin was released on January 29 on a $2,500 no cash recognizance to appear in court on February 2. A condition of his release was that he was banned from being in any vehicle without the registered owner present 

At 6 am on January 30, Red Deer RCMP responded to a report of a vehicle that had been stolen when it was left running and unlocked. RCMP located the vehicle with support from OnStar, and had OnStar shut the vehicle down slowly at a location where police determined there would be no danger to other drivers or pedestrians. Once the vehicle was stopped, the suspect, identified as Brandon Loughlin, attempted to flee on foot but was arrested after a brief foot chase.

Brandon Loughlin was then remanded to appear in court in Red Deer on both stolen vehicle files on February 1 at 9:30 am.

 During his court appearance today, Loughlin will also speak to charges on a file from June 30, 2017, where he was arrested in downtown Red Deer after a member of the Red Deer RCMP crime reduction team on patrol in the downtown observed him stealing a bicycle and arrested him. Loughlin failed to appear in court on that file and a warrant was issued for his arrest; the warrant was executed by Red Deer RCMP during the warrant round-up in December, and Loughlin made his first court appearance on the theft of bicycle file on January 11.

 20 year old Brandon Robert Loughlin faces the following charges with relation to all the above-noted files:

·         Criminal Code 355(a) – Possession of stolen property over $5,000 X 2

·         Criminal Code 334(b) – Theft under $5,000

·         Criminal Code 145(3) – Fail to comply with conditions

·         Criminal Code 145(5) – Fail to comply with conditions

·         Criminal Code 430(4) – Mischief under $5,000

·         CDSA 4(1) – Possession of Schedule I substance (methamphetamine)

 “This series of incidents demonstrates the importance of our Pinpoint crime reduction strategies and their focus on prolific offenders. It also highlights our commitment to public safety and the importance of community engagement,” says Inspector Gerald Grobmeier of the Red Deer RCMP. “This suspect was arrested thanks to crime reduction strategies like our downtown patrols, and our successful warrant round-ups. During both stolen vehicle arrests, RCMP employed strategies to minimize potential harm to the public, and one of the arrests was thanks to a vigilant citizen who recognized the stolen vehicle from a social media page. A successful approach to crime reduction involves a lot of complex elements, and I’m pleased to see how many were used to maximum effect in this series of files.”

RCMP remind citizens that criminals prowl neighbourhoods and business parking lots across the city looking for easy theft opportunities. While police recognize that vehicles need to warm up in the winter months, they advise that vehicles should not be left unattended, that they always be locked and without valuables left inside, and that citizens consider investing in theft prevention devices

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Crime

Red Deer RCMP warn public regarding circulation of counterfeit currency

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News release from Red Deer RCMP

Red Deer RCMP are alerting the public to look out for counterfeit currency.

Red Deer RCMP have received multiple reports of transactions where $50 and $100 counterfeit bills were used or attempted to be used. Anyone in the area who handles currency are alerted to be on the lookout for suspicious bills and should they come into contact with it, report it to police.

The Bank of Canada has the following advice for dealing with counterfeit currency:

  • Politely refuse the note and explain that you suspect that it may be counterfeit.
  • Ask for another note (and check it too).
  • Advise the person to check the note with the local police.
  • Inform your local police of a possible attempt to pass suspected counterfeit money.
  • Be courteous. Remember that the person in possession of the bill could be an innocent victim who does not realize that the note is suspicious.

If you think you have come across counterfeit currency please contact Red Deer RCMP at 403-406-2200. If you wish to remain anonymous, you can contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS), online at www.P3Tips.com or by using the “P3 Tips” app available through the Apple App or Google Play Store. To report crime online, or for access to RCMP news and information, download the Alberta RCMP app through Apple or Google Play.

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Business

DOJ charges 7 Chinese spies with targeting US political leaders, major businesses

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From LifeSiteNews

By Matt Lamb

The hackers ‘spent approximately 14 years targeting U.S. and foreign critics, businesses, and political officials’ as part of a massive Chinese espionage operation, according to the DOJ.

Hackers targeted defense contractors, American political leaders, and U.S. companies with malware as part of a surveillance operation for the Chinese Communist Party, the Department of Justice (DOJ) alleges.

The DOJ released details on the indictment of seven Chinese individuals who have been charged with “conspiracy to commit computer intrusions and conspiracy to commit wire fraud,” according to a Monday news release.

The individuals are part of a People’s Republic of China (PRC) group who “spent approximately 14 years targeting U.S. and foreign critics, businesses, and political officials in furtherance of the PRC’s economic espionage and foreign intelligence objectives,” according to the DOJ.

Officials unsealed the indictment on Monday, though charges were originally filed in January.

The indictment provides further insight into how the CCP targets American companies and political leaders for retribution and influence using computer viruses.

The CCP and its Ministry of State Security “sought to obtain information on political, economic and security policies that might affect the PRC, along with military, scientific and technical information of value to the PRC,” the indictment states. “Among other things, the MSS and its state security departments focused on surreptitiously identifying and influencing the foreign policy of other countries, including the United States.”

The hackers used a front company called Wuhan XRZ beginning in at least 2010. They would send fake emails to U.S. senators, business leaders, and information technology companies looking to gain access. They were successful in hacking defense contractors, information technology providers, and universities, among other victims.

The DOJ itself was targeted, along the Commerce Department, the Treasury Department, and the White House.

The Justice Department alleges:

These computer network intrusion activities resulted in the confirmed and potential compromise of work and personal email accounts, cloud storage accounts and telephone call records belonging to millions of Americans, including at least some information that could be released in support of malign influence targeting democratic processes and institutions, and economic plans, intellectual property, and trade secrets belonging to American businesses, and contributed to the estimated billions of dollars lost every year as a result of the PRC’s state-sponsored apparatus to transfer U.S. technology to the PRC.

“If the recipient activated the tracking link by opening the email, information about the recipient, including the recipient’s location, IP addresses, network schematics and specific devices used to access the pertinent email accounts, was transmitted to a server controlled by the Conspirators,” the DOJ stated. “The Conspirators used this method to enable more direct and sophisticated targeting of recipients’ home routers and other electronic devices, including those of high ranking U.S. government officials and politicians and election campaign staff from both major U.S. political parties.”

In just a few months in 2018, the hackers “sent more than 10,000 malicious email messages” to “high-ranking U.S. government officials and their advisors, including officials involved in international policy and foreign trade issues.”

They also targeted campaign staff for “a presidential campaign” in 2020. The filing does not state which campaign.

European Union and United Kingdom leaders who were part of the anti-Communist Inter Parliamentary Alliance on China were also targeted.

Other victims included: “a nuclear power engineering company,” a defense contractor, an aerospace contractor, and “a leading American manufacturer of software and computer services based in California.”

Telecommunications companies, law firms, and steel companies were also targeted.

The CCP impersonated real steel companies in order to gain access to their emails during a battle over tariffs on China. After the Trump administration announced new steel tariffs in 2018, the hackers “registered a malicious domain impersonating the legitimate domain of one of the largest steel producers in the United States (the ‘American Steel Company’)” as well as the International Steel Trade Forum.

“These malicious domains allowed the Conspirators to communicate with malware they installed on the network of the American Steel Company to access and surveil the victim,” the DOJ stated.

They also targeted the Norwegian government in 2018 because it was considering awarding the Nobel Prize to Hong Kong democracy activists.

The PRC is a “malicious nation state,” a federal prosecutor stated in the DOJ news release.

“These allegations pull back the curtain on China’s vast illegal hacking operation that targeted sensitive data from U.S. elected and government officials, journalists, and academics; valuable information from American companies; and political dissidents in America and abroad. Their sinister scheme victimized thousands of people and entities across the world, and lasted for well over a decade,”  U.S. Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York stated in the news release.

“America’s sovereignty extends to its cyberspace. Today’s charges demonstrate my office’s commitment to upholding and protecting that jurisdiction, and to putting an end to malicious nation state cyber activity.”

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