A Prince George man is in custody after a string of vehicles thefts, ranging from a snowmobile to a snowplow, along Highway 16 from Terrace to Burns Lake.
James Alan Webb, 38, has been charged with one count each of theft of a motor vehicle, dangerous driving, fleeing police, driving while impaired, driving while disqualified under the Criminal Code and willfully resisting or obstructing a peace officer.
On Monday at 5:05 p.m. Smithers RCMP received a report that a man on a bicycle had stolen a black Ford F350 pickup truck and was seen speeding away towards Telkwa, according to a press release by North District RCMP. The suspect had left behind a white Ford F250 truck, which had been reported stolen out of Terrace.
Around 5:30 p.m. on the same day, the suspect abandoned the stolen F350 in the Hungry Hill area and allegedly stole a Ford F150 pickup truck. The suspect was seen driving towards Houston in the truck, which police were told may contain firearms and other weapons.
At 8:44 p.m. a property owner in the 5200-block of Highway 16 chased the suspect away from their home, as the suspect was allegedly trying to steal items from there. The suspect dumped the F150 and stole a Chevy 3500 pickup truck.
The stolen Chevy was later involved in a crash in Houston.
Less than an hour later, Houston RCMP received a report of another vehicle theft. A two-tone grey and blue GMC 2500 pickup truck was taken from the 4800 block of Summit Lake Road.
At this point, officers from the Burns Lake and Fraser Lake RCMP detachments were called in to assist the detachments already involved in the case, the press release said.
At 11:27 p.m., a Burns Lake RCMP member spotted the stolen GMC truck in the parking lot of Lakes District Hospital, and attempted to stop it. Police attempted to stop the suspect, but he failed to stop and fled the area.
Then at 12:15 a.m. on Tuesday, an RCMP officer found the stolen GMC truck crashed on Highway 16 west of Hawse Loop Road.
Police patrolled the area and heard someone yelling that their snowmobile was being stolen. As officers made their way to the home, the suspect drove the stolen sled directly at the police, narrowly missing two police cars before fleeing down trails were police couldn't follow,
About 10 minutes later, police received a report that someone had stolen a Dodge truck equipped with a snowplow from Bartlett Road in Burns Lake, and was seen driving east on Highway 16. Police found the stolen snowmobile at the scene of the plow theft.
Officers found the suspect driving the plow truck on Highway 16 near Cougar Road. The vehicle was stopped in the travel portion of the highway, and police positioned their cruisers to prevent the suspect from fleeing.
But the suspect rammed one police vehicle, then reversed and rammed another cruiser.
Police arrested the suspect at gunpoint, because of the possibility of firearms being in the stole plow truck.
The Prince George man remains in custody, police said, and could face numerous charges. During the arrest, officers seized a quantity of drugs believe to be methamphetamine.
The highway was closed to traffic to allow officers to conduct the investigation, but has since been reopened to single alternating traffic.
The suspect was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries sustained in the crash, and a police officer was also treated for non-life threatening injuries sustained during the altercation.
In 2017, Webb was sentenced to a further 393 days in jail for a similar spree that started in Dawson Creek and ended in Prince George.
Webb remained in custody as of Tuesday and is to appear in court for a bail hearing on Friday.
