Kamloops fugitive shipped to Alberta to face charges
A Kamloops crook who's been a fugitive in Alberta since 2010 has been sent east to face justice.
Wesley Alfred Martel was shipped from Kamloops to Banff, Alta., earlier this month after surfacing as a candidate for B.C.'s Fugitive Return Program.
The 41-year-old was supposed to have been living at his parents' house in the Okanagan, but was under the supervision of the Kamloops probation office, according to Vernon RCMP spokesman Gord Molendyk.
"He had been well-known by our office and the Kamloops office," Molendyk told KTW.
"He had gone between here and Kamloops on a number of occasions."
Most recently, Martel pleaded guilty in Kamloops provincial court on July 23 to one count each of assault with a weapon, assault causing bodily harm and uttering threats.
He had been in custody since March and was sentenced to time served and put on an 18-month probation term.
Martel has a lengthy criminal history dating back to 1989. Most of his convictions have been in Vernon and the Fraser Valley.
Last August, he pleaded guilty to drug charges in Vernon provincial court and was handed a 90-day jail sentence.
In 2009, Martel was sentenced to four months in jail after pleading guilty to firearms and threats charges out of Vernon.
In Banff, he is facing charges of uttering threats, assault, theft, being unlawfully at large and causing a disturbance.
Martel's shipment to Alberta brings to 23 the number of inter-provincial fugitives shipped out of B.C. to face charges elsewhere since last September, but he's believed to be the first with ties to Kamloops.
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