B.C. Shopping Spree Leads To 7 Arrests In Abduction

NORTH VANCOUVER, B.C. - Five of seven suspects in the kidnapping of millionaire entrepreneur Jim Pattison's daughter were returned to custody after appearing in court on a variety of charges.

Two others were released and will appear in court later.

The suspects, three young men and four juveniles - one of them a girl - were arrested Saturday after an extravagant shopping spree with what investigators said was the ransom money.

Police tracked them down after a man identified as the one who picked up the ransom money returned to the department store drop site the next day during the chauffeur-driven shopping trip.

The victim, Cynthia Kilburn, 30, was abducted from her home Friday morning and released unharmed but shaken 14 hours later after the ransom was paid.

Chadwick Mulvahill, 21, of no fixed address, remained in custody on charges of kidnapping, unlawful confinement, extortion and possession of stolen property.

Chad Dafoe, 19, of Richmond, and Sheldon Kwan, 18, of North Vancouver, were charged with possession of stolen property.

Two juveniles were charged in Youth Court with unlawful confinement and kidnapping, and a third was charged with unlawful confinement and possession of stolen property.

Constable Sheila Armstrong of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the kidnappers told Pattison to leave an undisclosed sum of money at a location in the downtown Vancouver Hudson's Bay department store.

A store security officer got a description of the man who picked up the money. The same officer tipped police when the man and an accomplice returned to the store during their shopping trip, Armstrong said.

They were arrested when police saw their limousine in a West Vancouver shopping center. Five others were arrested elsewhere. Police said they recovered ``a large sum of money'' and other items.

The abductors burst into Kilburn's North Vancouver home Friday morning, took her and left her 4-year-old twins, a boy and a girl, tied up and alone in the house.

Kilburn was released blindfolded but unharmed on a North Vancouver street about 11 p.m. Friday.

The kidnappers told the limo driver they were celebrating their last year of high school with a $20,000 spending spree.

``One of the guys was in a store at Park Royal (shopping mall) getting seven suits tailored,'' said chauffeur Dino Falcone, who was paid in six $100 bills.

``I was just getting into the car asking the guy in the back seat where they wanted to go next, and then I saw a couple of badges in the window.''

Falcone said he drove to four shopping centers where his passengers filled the limo's trunk with clothes, guitars and jewelry.

Pattison, 62, is the sole shareholder of Jim Pattison Group, a conglomerate that owns several auto dealerships, supermarkets and radio stations. The group had revenues estimated at $2 billion in 1989.

He was also the former chairman of the Expo 86 world's fair in Vancouver.