Surrey man convicted of stealing 47 car batteries

A Surrey, B.C., man has been convicted ofstealing nearly 50 batteries from cars parked in a North Vancouverneighbourhood last summer.

William Burgess swiped 47 batteries from vehicles in the Lynnmourarea throughout the month of August last year. North Vancouver RCMP said he was arrested the following month and convicted of two counts of theft on April 25.

During their investigation, Mounties said officers also learned that batteries were going missing from vehicles in Burnaby, Surrey and Richmond. Burgess was identified as a suspect usingsurveillance tape and officers started following him.

A statement said investigators caught Burgess stealing while he was under police surveillance. A search of his home turned up batteries "and other property," according to a statement released Monday.

The B.C. Civil Forfeiture Office hasseized Burgess' 2005 GMCCanyon truck, which he used while stealing batteries, as part of the investigation. RCMP said the province will now sell the truck at auction.

"All the work he put into stealing a bunch of used batteries cost him his truck," RCMP Sgt. Peter DeVries wrote in the statement. "He might consider putting all that energy to better use."