Around 3 a.m. Monday, Glenn Leachman woke up to the sound of his phone ring.
On the other end was a neighbour of his business, telling him that a break-in was going on.
Leachman, who doesn’t live far from his Aberfoyle Snomobiles dealership, got into his vehicle and made his way over to the store.
He soon found a truck parked in the shop’s driveway, with a side-by-side vehicle on it, and people trying to load another side-by-side onto a second truck.
“I yelled at them and told them that the police were going to be here any minute, and they jumped in their vehicles and disappeared on down the road,” he said.
Leachman’s son Darryl – the store manager – was just getting to the shop at that moment.
He said he saw the thieves leaving with one of the side-by-sides, and tried to follow them.
“They ran into the front of my vehicle, and then one took off on the 401 east (and) one took off on the 401 west,” Darryl Leachman said.
The Leachmans believe the theft was planned out in advance, because the intruders broke down a gate and – undeterred by the security system – went straight for the most expensive machines on the property.
“They knew what they were doing well before they got here. This wasn’t just a smash-and-grab,” said Darryl Leachman.
Monday’s break-in was the second at Aberfoyle Snomobiles so far this year.
With reporting by Mary Cranston
