Missing B.C. kayakers due in court on theft charges
Police believe men, both 29, did not fake disappearance
CBC News
Posted: Sep 29, 2011 8:14 PM PT
Last Updated: Sep 29, 2011 8:09 PM PT
Two B.C. men who went missing while kayaking off Vancouver Island were due to appear in court Wednesday, the day after they disappeared, police say.
The missing men, Morgan Porter and John Elgin, of Sooke, B.C., west of Victoria, were occasionally employed to do odd jobs at the Sooke Ocean Resort, according to owner Ralph Hull.
Hull said the kayaks the men used were not suitable for the ocean and they took them out without his permission.
The kayaks and a lifejacket were found on Wednesday, but there has been no sign of the two men, both 29.
They were scheduled to appear in provincial court on charges relating to the theft of gasoline from a vehicle in Esquimalt in August.
Police do not suspect the men faked their disappearance, said RCMP Corporal Jas Mandaher.
“There's nothing to lead us to believe there's some ulterior motive or some plot to escape the courts,” said Mandaher.
Rescue Centre officials called off the marine search on Wednesday, and the case of the missing pair is now entirely in the hands of the RCMP.
With files from the CBC's Lisa CordascoShare Tools
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