OPP apprehend suspect after lengthy pursuit of stolen vehicle in northern Ontario

An undated police image of an Ontario Provincial Police cruiser in a rural area. (File photo/Ontario Provincial Police/Facebook)

Ontario Provincial Police have laid multiple charges following a coordinated search for a stolen pickup truck that ended in Powassan, Ont.

The incident began at about 4:30 p.m. on Jan. 22, when the North Bay Police Service notified the OPP of a recently stolen vehicle.

“Information provided indicated the vehicle had been taken from a business on Lakeshore Drive and was last seen travelling southbound,” said OPP in a news release.

Officers from the North Bay and Powassan OPP detachments, with assistance from North Bay police, responded to the Highway 11 corridor. Using an onboard vehicle-tracking system, police monitored the vehicle’s movement as it travelled through Callander and toward Powassan.

Dangerous driving observed

“While attempting to locate the vehicle, officers observed it travelling a high rate of speed, including rapidly accelerating on rural roads and cutting though snow covered ditches,” said police.

The pursuit continued until OPP officers tracked the stolen pickup to a location behind an outbuilding at a rural property on Genesee Lake Road in Powassan.

Suspect taken into custody

The area was contained by frontline officers with support from the OPP’s emergency response team and canine unit.

“Officers approached the vehicle and safely took one individual into custody,” said police.

As a result of the investigation, a 48-year-old man from Whitby, has been charged with dangerous operation of a vehicle, theft, theft of a motor vehicle, two possession of property obtained by crime offences, five counts of operating a motor vehicle while prohibited, two counts of operating a vehicle for which permit is suspended and using a plate not authorized for a vehicle.

The accused was held for a bail hearing in North Bay.

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