Schweitzer making it hard for thieves, cheats

SANDPOINT — Video surveillance and cooperation between Schweitzer Mountain Resort security and law enforcement is credited with the reported takedown of a pair of snowboard thieves who have been haunting Idaho ski hills.

The duo is thought to behind more than a dozen thefts this season at Schweitzer Mountain alone. It’s also believed the two young men were committing thefts at Silver Mountain Resort and Lookout Pass, said Howard Petschel, a Schweitzer employee who has taken a personal interest in the case.

Petschel said one suspect was recently arrested in Coeur d’Alene as a result of the investigation and a second is being sought for arrest. The names of the suspects were not immediately available on Friday.

“It was the exact same M.O. time after time after time,” Petschel said of the suspects and how they carried out the thefts.

Petschel said one suspect would typically skulk through the village dressed in appropriate gear, move two or more snowboards to an end rack and depart.

The second suspect, sometimes accompanied by the first, would then return to the rack, make off with the boards and load them into a vehicle parked close to the village.

But Petschel said the thieves made a crucial misstep — they went to Schweitzer, which has its own security detail and surveillance setup to protect guests and their gear.

“Most ski areas do not have this,” said Petschel, a Bonner County resident who works in ticketing at the resort.

Petschel said Schweitzer Security, which developed a dossier documenting the thefts, worked with the Bonner County Sheriff’s Office and Coeur d’Alene Police to zero in on the suspects. Some of the pilfered boards turned up in Coeur d’Alene pawn shops.

“I know a number of them have been recovered,” said Petschel, who added that Schweitzer is making it tough on pass cheats, too.

He said the resort tallied more than a hundred fraudulent pass uses last year, but that figure has been knocked down to about 10 because of diligent employees and handheld pass scanners used by ticket checkers.