Stolen playground structure recovered, man in custody: Winnipeg police

A play structure stolen from a Manitoba pre-school has been recovered. Jon Hendricks has more.

A 35-year-old man has been charged after he allegedly stole a play structure from a Montessori preschool in Manitoba last week.

Staff at Guiding Minds Montessori School in Headingley arrived at the school Friday to find a section of their fence cut and the wooden play structure, which had been bolted to the ground, missing.

Winnipeg police investigated and identified a suspect. On Tuesday, the major crimes unit executed a search warrant on a home in the 100 block of Stranmillis Avenue. The stolen play structure, as well as an RV previously reported stolen, were located. A 35-year-old man was arrested.

The damaged structure has been returned to the preschool but is not safe for use.

“It’s cracked. The base is cracked,” said Angie Izzard, Director of Guiding Minds Montessori School.

Still, Izzard says while much of the structure cannot be saved, the main section is fine, and will be turned into a treehouse of sorts.

“One of my parents, he’s pretty handy,” said Izzard. “So we might put a little cover on top, close it up, try to make it more a little bit safe. I was thinking of possibly putting it at a corner of one of our play areas as a little kind of tree fort for them. but other than that, we’ll probably just get rid of the rest.”

The suspect has been charged with two counts of break-and-enter and detained in custody. Charges have not been proven in court.

-With files from CTV’s Jeff Keele.