Friday, April 8, 2022

Original Published 13:26 Mar 30, 2022

By Tom Summer, Local Journalism Initiative

B.C. conservation officers have seized a truck and riverboat worth $60,000 from a prolific offender living in Hudson’s Hope. 

It’s the net result of litigation under the Civil Forfeiture Act started against Justin Thibault in June 2021, after the province sought his truck, trailer, and boat, all used in a number of fish and wildlife violations in the Peace Region. 

The Conservation Officer Service reported the seizure on their social media on Tuesday, saying it stemmed from a 2017 night hunting decoy operation.  

Thibault pleaded guilty and was fined $4,750 last April for illegally hunting with a spotlight near Farrell Creek in October 2017, and has ran afoul of the law many times prior to the seizure.  

In September 2021, he was sentenced to nine months of house arrest after being caught vandalizing a Pacific Canbriam Energy site, along with possessing three stolen firearms and a truck. 

In June 2020, police and Conservation officers searched his home, discovering a live bear cub, stolen property, as well as rifles that authorities allege were used for illegal hunting activities. 

Thibault has also been accused of harassing an elk on the Peace River in Hudson’s Hope in 2019.  

This item reprinted with permission from the Alaska Highway News, Fort St. John, British Columbia