Dartmouth man, woman charged in crime spree across southwest N.S., HRM including Fall River, Sackville

FALL RIVER/DARTMOUTH: A 24-year-old woman and a 33-year-old man, both from Dartmouth, have been charged with multiple offences following a series of thefts, a robbery, dangerous driving incidents, and the theft of a motor vehicle across the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM), including incidents in Fall River and Sackville, and southwest Nova Scotia. 

The investigation began on July 25 when RCMP Halifax Regional Detachment (HRD) responded to a report of a fuel theft at a gas station in Fall River. 

Officers learned that a woman driving a Honda Civic fuelled the vehicle and left without paying. 

On July 28, HRP received a report that a Honda Civic had been stolen. Investigators learned that a man and woman had borrowed the vehicle on July 20 and failed to return it. 

Over the following weeks, police received reports of multiple thefts from businesses in Sackville, Fall River, Upper Tantallon, Bedford, Hubbards and Greenwood. 

In each case, investigators identified a woman as the suspect.  During several of the incidents, the suspect was observed leaving in the stolen Civic. 

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On August 10, an HRP officer located the stolen Civic in Dartmouth and initiated a traffic stop.  The vehicle failed to stop and fled northbound on Hwy. 118.  

The following day, East Hants RCMP responded to a report of a suspicious vehicle parked at a convenience store in Rawdon Gold Mines.

Officers located the stolen Honda Civic with a man and woman sleeping inside. 

As officers attempted to arrest them, the driver reversed into a police vehicle and fled the scene at a high rate of speed.   

On August 14, RCMP HRD responded to a robbery at a business in the 3600 block of Hammonds Plains Rd. in Upper Tantallon. Investigators learned that a man and woman filled a shopping cart with merchandise and left without paying.

A nearby RCMP HRD Traffic Services officer immediately responded and observed the pair loading the stolen merchandise into a Honda Civic. 

When the officer attempted to arrest the woman, she fled in the vehicle, nearly striking a store employee who attempted to intervene.   

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Through the on-going investigation, officers learned the man and woman were located in Falmouth. 

On August 19, the RCMP HRD Community Action Response Team, with assistance from the RCMP HRD Street Crime Enforcement Unit (SCEU), Southwest Nova RCMP SCEU, and RCMP HRD Police Dog Services, safely arrested the pair in the 2100 block of Hwy. 1 in Falmouth.

The stolen Honda Civic was also recovered in the Windsor area.

Nicole Adele Spence, 24, of Dartmouth, is charged with:

Robbery

Resisting Arrest

Dangerous Operation of a Conveyance (two counts)

Flight From a Police Officer (two counts)

Theft of a Motor Vehicle

Theft (five counts)

Possession of Property Obtained by Crime Under $5,000 (four counts)

Possession of Property Obtained by Crime Over $5,000

Leslie Burton Gray, 33, of Dartmouth, is charged with:

Robbery

Resisting Arrest

Possession of Property Obtained by Crime Over $5000

Theft of a Motor Vehicle

Both Spence and Gray appeared in Halifax Provincial Court on August 20. 

Spence was released on conditions and is scheduled to appear in Dartmouth Provincial Court on August 27.  

Gray remains in custody and is scheduled to appear in Halifax Provincial Court on August 25. 

File #: 26-117329, 26-118506, 26-124167, 26-126437, 26-4004482, 26-4004715, 26-4004863, 26-4004884, 26-4004885