Langley City resident Alex Vail is speaking out about the Grinches who stole his 11-year-old’s Christmas.
On Nov. 19, around 2:30 a.m., two Langley men, who are known to police, are accused of breaking into Vail’s Mustang, which was parked outside his apartment.
In an attempt to steal the vehicle, the would-be-thieves did major damage to the ignition, cut the steering wheel column, the dash, tore out the alarm system and broke off the lock, among other things.
Luckily, someone witnessed the break-in and called police who arrived quickly enough to catch the criminals in the act.
“The male in the driver’s seat was arrested at the scene, but the passenger fled and was eventually arrested,” said Langley RCMP Cpl. Holly Marks. The police dog unit helped out in the search.
Since then Jesse Moore, 23, and Dustyn Wald, 21, have been charged with theft and possession of break-in tools. Moore is also charged with giving police a false name. They are both back in court Dec. 6.
Vail’s Mustang was towed away to ICBC’s theft investigation lot.
Vail’s been without a car since that night, and that means he can’t work. Two weeks later, ICBC hasn’t told him when or if he’ll get his car back.
“Every day that passes is another day I cannot seek work. Generally the jobs I take (at warehouses) are either on Annacis Island or in Gloucester Estates, so I can’t take the bus,” said Vail.
“I try to give my son a Christmas every year, just a small one, but now I’m panicking that I won’t be able to,” he said.
“My son is my only family I have. This is so frustrating. I’m the victim of the crime but we are the ones being punished. I’m an honest guy who was living a normal life before this happened.”
Even if he gets word that his Mustang is fixable, he will still have to pay the $300 deductible. It’s $300 he doesn’t have right now while no pay cheques come in.
On top of that, he just put $1,300 worth of work into the car, especially the brakes, to make sure it was drivable.
“No one is going to hire you if you don’t have reliable transportation.”