It must be hard to steal a 41-foot-tall century-old steel windmill, but that’s the report that the Indian Head RCMP dealt with last month.
However, theft of the Vibank, Sask., antique was later found to be a case of misunderstanding among neighbours.
Sgt. Ryan Case of the Indian Head RCMP said the confusion started when the land on which the windmill was located was sold.
“The new landowner did not want it anymore so the former landowner said, ‘can we keep it,’ and that was fine, and they agreed to that without issue,” he said.
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However, when the former landowner went to pick up the windmill, he found it was gone, so he reported it stolen to the RCMP.
“So we thought, somebody is going to have to know something about it or seen it somewhere or going down the road who could try and help point us in the right direction as to where this thing could have ended up,” said Case.
The RCMP used the Saskatchewan Crime Watch Advisory, which notifies specific detachments and asks for leads on specific crimes.
Individuals can also subscribe to the advisories.
When the notification went out, regarding the windmill, Case said it reached approximately 4,500 people.
“Within 24 hours of sending the notification out we received multiple calls on possible windmill sightings,” Case said.
“And with the last one that we received, it said this windmill might be on this one property in this one area, so we went out there and, sure enough, we located it and talked to the people that had it.”
Case said the situation is no longer considered a criminal investigation because it was a miscommunication between the people involved.
“Ultimately in the end the issue was, there was a miscommunication between the landowners, ex-landowners and these new people, and essentially it was promised to more than one person and they took it, thinking that they could have it and the other person thought they were supposed to have it,” he said.
“But we did facilitate a conversation amongst the three people that needed to be involved to figure out who’s going to keep it, who has it, and it’s among the three of them now to work it out.”
Case said the Saskatchewan Crime Watch advisory was integral to locating the windmill.
“Without the notification being sent out, this simply would not have been located. The odds of it were very low without the assistance of it.”
Darcy Deck, the original owner of the windmill and the man who filed the police report, said they are still determining who will get the windmill, but he hopes to find out soon.
