OPP seize stolen vehicle, bank cards after fuel theft leads to Highway 17 chase

An Ontario Provincial Police cruiser is shown driving down a highway in the winter in this undated image. (File Photo/Ontario Provincial Police/Facebook)

A 42-year-old man from Riverview, N.B., is facing more than a dozen charges after a stolen vehicle led police on a chase across two communities before being tracked to a West Nipissing motel.

Ontario Provincial Police say the incident began shortly before 9:30 p.m. on Monday, when officers received a report of a fuel theft from a gas station in Mattawa. The suspect vehicle was last seen heading west on Highway 17.

Police located the vehicle in North Bay, but the driver failed to stop for officers and continued fleeing westbound.

Later that evening, members of the Nipissing West OPP detachment found the vehicle parked at a hotel in West Nipissing. With the assistance of several specialized OPP teams, one person was taken into custody without incident.

“A search warrant was executed on both the vehicle and hotel room,” OPP said in a release.

The subsequent search revealed that the vehicle had been reported stolen. Inside both the car and the hotel room, officers seized various stolen credit cards, bank cards, personal property and drugs suspected to be cannabis.

Outstanding robbery warrants

The investigation also revealed the accused was wanted on two outstanding arrest warrants for robbery in New Brunswick.

As a result of the investigation, the man was charged with flight from a peace officer, dangerous operation of a vehicle, failing to surrender his licence, two counts of possession of property obtained by crime and four counts of failing to comply with a release order.

He was also charged with driving a vehicle with cannabis readily available and two counts of impaired driving.

The accused was held for a bail hearing and subsequently remanded into custody. His next scheduled court appearance is on Feb. 25 in North Bay.