The 100 Mile House RCMP teamed up with Peter Skene Ogden Secondary School's 2025 grad class to track down and arrest 35 of the community's most wanted.
Throughout the morning and afternoon of Friday, May 9, officers and grads found, arrested and jailed their suspects in a makeshift cage outside of Save-On-Foods. The miscreants were set loose only after they'd raise $200 worth of bail money to help pay for the 2025 PSO Dry Grad. Organizer Laurie Findlay said the event was a huge success for the grads.
"The grads have done it for a lot of years and it's a great way to involve the community, the kids and the RCMP. It generally raises quite a bit of money and the community is amazing with their support," Findlay said. "We had about 30 people on our list and we want to make sure they're ok, so I'll contact them all ahead of time. We had about five people added on afterwards, and everyone seemed really happy. It was a really fun event. People paid us way more than what their bail was, it was pretty great."
When all was said and done between bail money and funds raised from a bake sale run at the same time, Findlay said the grads raised $8,000. She noted they had originally hoped to raise $6,000.
One of the detainees was Nick Tofsrud, the father of 2025 PSO grad Ryan Tofsrud, who was arrested on unclear charges. Tofsrud remarked neither the arresting officer nor the student deputies told him why when they hauled him, but he quipped, "I'm sure I did something bad."
"I tried to run, but they were fast," Tofsrud chuckled.
It took Tofsrud about an hour to raise his bail, during which time he banged on the bars with a tin cup and cajoled passersby into donating in his name. He said he had fun and enjoyed the chance to support his son.
"It's just a fun thing to support the grads," Tofsrud said.
During his time on the inside, Tofsrud snuck a water gun into the jail cell, using it to spray his captors. That water gun belonged to a separate ongoing competition amongst the PSO grads. Tofsrud noted that any students wearing swimming goggles or water wings around town are competing in the event.
Two of his jailers, Daylee White and Hailey McNeil, said that around 50 of the grads are currently engaged in a town-wide last man standing water gun fight. Each grad has been assigned a target to eliminate, but can only shoot their target when they're not wearing goggles or other swimwear.
"It's sort of a yearly tradition at PSO at the end of the year, kind of thing. We have a water gun fight where everyone is assigned a target and you have to shoot your target with a water gun," McNeil said.
White noted there is a minimum $3 buy-in fee from each grad with a total potential payout of $200 for the last grad standing. She said it is extremely hard to find your target as there isn't a grad competing right now, not wearing goggles or a water wing. Of the 46 original contenders, only five have been eliminated as of Friday, May 9.
"If we can't get more people out, we're going to do what's called a Purge Day. That means there is no immunity and goggles and floaties aren't going to save you. There will be no safe areas except inside the school," White said.
As for the jail and bail, White said that mock-arresting different members of the community is a ton of fun, especially if it's your own family member or your boss. She noted she was especially looking forward to arresting her boss at Canada 2 For 1 Pizza.
"I was looking forward to Mister Shawn Meville, but turns out he walked into the cell and walked right out," McNeil said.
Rather than serve his time PSO's vice-principal chose to buy his way out the first chance he got, handing over $200.
"He was kind of lame when it came to being arrested," White remarked.
Findlay said her favourite part of the event was seeing the grads out interacting with the community and having fun. She noted some of the grads' parents and bosses were locked up in jail.
"I would say it was a great success. We were just shocked and amazed by the amount of people coming up and giving donations without even knowing what was going on," Findlay reiterated. "We live in a pretty amazing town."
Barring a car wash held on Saturday, May 10, the Jail and Bail marked the last major fundraising effort for the 2025 Dry Grad. Findlay said they've reached their goal and are planning to organize a Hollywood Red Carpet theme for the grads to enjoy. Before the Dry Grad celebrations, she noted the annual Dry Grad Parade will take place on June 21 at 2 p.m. down Birch Avenue, followed by a meet and greet in Centennial Park.
