Police Service Dog Nuke. (Courtesy Alberta RCMP)
SWARN HILLS, Alta. – A 44-year-old man is in custody facing multiple charges after RCMP used a police dog and drone to track him down following his escape into dense bush near an oil lease site west of Swan Hills.
On Aug. 31, at about 1:25 p.m., Swan Hills RCMP received a report from workers at a nearby oil lease in the Kidney Lake Road area about a suspicious all-terrain vehicle. The workers told police that when they approached the man operating the ATV, the vehicle became hung up and immobilized. The driver then jumped off and fled on foot into the surrounding forest.
Officers arrived and confirmed the ATV had been reported stolen from Edson, Alta. – a fact its owner has since been informed of. Inside or with the vehicle, police also located a machete and large bolt cutters.
Because the suspect had disappeared into the wooded terrain, RCMP called in Police Dog Services (PDS) and a Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) drone unit from Whitecourt to assist with the search.
Police Service Dog Nuke began tracking from the spot where the ATV was recovered and quickly located the suspect concealed in the bush. With Nuke’s help, officers apprehended the man, who sustained minor injuries and was taken to hospital for treatment.
A subsequent search turned up a backpack belonging to the suspect that contained additional break-in tools, police said.
Derek Borgel, 44, a resident of Yellowhead County, Alta., has been charged with:
- Possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000;
- Possession of break-in instruments; and
- Failure to comply with a release order (three counts).
Police noted that Borgel was already under a release order with conditions requiring him to stay at his residence and not possess any weapons.
Borgel was brought before a justice of the peace and remanded into custody. He is scheduled to appear before the Alberta Court of Justice in Barrhead on Sept. 8, 2026.
