Lodge owners in northern B.C. ask for help to recover stolen trailers

The owners of a highway lodge in northern B.C. say they are devastated by a recent theft and they're hoping Yukoners might help them recover the stolen property: two large mobile trailers.

The owners of the Sasquatch Crossing Lodge, a restaurant and hotel in Pink Mountain, B.C., at Mile 147 of the Alaska Highway, say it happened last week.

Lodge owner Melody Magaton says she got a call from one of her staff members with the bad news.

"We have two lodges that are four miles apart," Magaton told CBC News.

"They texted me right away and said, 'did you sell equipment?' And I said, 'absolutely not, what are you talking about?'"

The staff member told Magaton that three large mobile trailers, used as housing for seasonal workers, were gone. The double-ended wellsite trailers are typically used at remote mining camps and construction sites.

Magaton figures that together, the three trailers are worth about $300,000.

"Whoever went and took them pulled everything off," Magaton said. "All the plumbing, the electrical. [They] left a mess in the yard, and left."

Magaton said it was too big of a job for just one person to pull off, and had to have been planned out.

"Whoever did it had to have the trucks," she said. "The time. Have been watching us."

Melody and Richard Magaton, owners of the Sasquatch Crossing Lodge. (Melody Magaton)

Magaton said a large rental generator was also stolen.

1 trailer recovered by police, 2 still missing

Immediately after Magaton got off the phone with her staff member she called the RCMP to report the theft.

She also took to social media to wrangle the public's help.

"Lots of trucking friends that have stopped with us for the last 30 years have fed back a lot of intel," she said.

"I feed it to the RCMP right away."

There is a bit of luck on Magaton's side as she told CBC News that police were able to recover one of the trailers. She said it was found north of Pink Mountain, between Fort Nelson, B.C., and Watson Lake, Yukon.

"I don't have any information on who actually has them," she said. "One has been recovered. One of the red and white ones."

One of the trailers Magaton says was stolen last week. (Melody Magaton)

As for the other two, Magaton said the latest information she received was that the trailers were spotted heading toward the Yukon.

"I've had a few calls from the good people of the Yukon suggesting different places," she said. "One of them was the Mayo [Yukon] area."

Magaton said one of the missing trailers is grey and red, and the other is green and white. Both have serial numbers on the side, and signs that says "Melody" on them.

Magaton is hopeful her property will be returned to her but also understands that might not happen. She says she's heard from a lot of other people who have had things stolen in recent years.

"The sad part is, I'm not alone in this," she said. "Some of them have recovered their stuff but nobody's ever been charged. Others have found their equipment burned.

"I'm asking, please help us get those trailers back."

Magaton's urging the public to either contact her directly or their local RCMP detachment with any information that could lead to the recovery of her trailers and generator.

RCMP in Fort St. John, B.C., are handling the investigation. CBC News reached out for comment but nobody was immediately available to provide any information.