A man wanted on 10 outstanding warrants, including three for armed robbery in Saanich last summer, was arrested by Ucluelet RCMP after he reportedly stole a pop from a convenience store.
On Friday morning, a Ucluelot shopkeeper contacted RCMP with a description of a man who'd just taken a bottle of Pepsi. An officer attended and found a man matching the description, sitting nearby drinking a Pepsi.
The officer spoke with the man and, suspecting the name he gave was fake, the officer arrested the man for theft.
At the Ucluelet RCMP headquarters, the officer searched a police database (using a possible alias and birthdate) and determined the suspect's identity.
Vaughn Edward Zopf, 45, is now facing charges for three armed robberies at Saanich banks that occurred in August 2010. He also faces seven other outstanding warrants.
"It was an excellent bit of police work done by Const. Ryan Warren (Ucluelet RCMP) who managed to figure out his identity by playing around with fake names that were provided," Saanich police Sgt. Dean Jantzen said. “Typically, you may get part of a right name, and the birthday, so you run with various combinations. And that's what he did and it resulted in some great police work and the arrest of a wanted criminal."
Zopf, was expected to make his first appearance in court this week.
kslavin@saanichnews.com