Social media post leads to alleged Chilliwack corn thief

CHILLIWACK (NEWS 1130) – An alleged corn thief in Chilliwack has likely learned an important lesson about advertising crime on social media.

Ian Sparkes says he noticed about $1,500 worth of corn had been stolen from his farm.

“Somebody had gone in with a vehicle, backed right into the corn, knocked all the corn down and there was trails all over, like a bunch of bears were out there. You can see every corn stalk that they picked. So, there’s quite a bit of corn gone,” says Sparkes.

But a post on Facebook quickly revealed where it might be and who might have it.

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“Our accountant actually screen shot an advertisement with a guy selling Chilliwack corn,” says Sparkes. “And it said ‘Picked today, I won’t be around during the day. I’m available tomorrow.’ Well, yeah that’s cause he was stealing my corn at night’.”

He says a friend responded to the ad and met the man, who was selling the corn on his porch.

After that, they called the police.

Sparkes is happy the man was apprehended, but he was not able to recover the corn.