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19-year-old facing multiple criminal code charges

Amber Alert
court house pic

Johnathan Ryann Gunville, 19, of North Battleford is facing abduction, unlawful confinement and a long list of other charges as a result of Sunday’s Amber Alert.

According to RCMP hundreds of hours of surveillance footage from more than 200 businesses were viewed as part of this investigation, establishing the movements of a vehicle stolen from a strip mall with a six-year-old child inside Sunday evening.

The vehicle with the child still inside was located by searchers Monday morning. The child was safe but was taken to Battlefords Union Hospital where she was reunited with her family.

The long list of charges against Gunville include: abduction of a person under 14; unlawful confinement; abandoning a child; dangerous operation of a motor vehicle; theft of a motor vehicle; possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000; driving while disqualified; and failure to comply with a probation order. All are criminal code offences.

Gunville is in custody and is scheduled to appear in North Battleford Provincial Court on Monday at 9:30 a.m.

Considerable resources were deployed in locating the lost child and investigating this incident including Battlefords RCMP, Battlefords Provincial General Investigative Section (GIS), Battlefords Municipal GIS and Saskatoon Provincial GIS.

The Amber Alert also resulted in a widespread response from members of the public, who spent Sunday night into the early hours of Monday morning helping to search for the missing girl.