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By Kate Bouey
Prolific Offender Pleads Guilty

Guilty of B&E, Theft and Arson

Mar 29, 2019 | 10:22 AM

A Vernon man, described by police as a prolific offender, has pleaded guilty to breaking into a home last November while the residents were asleep.

Twenty-five-year-old Sheldon Veness appeared in B.C. provincial court yesterday where he pleaded guilty to break and enter, theft of a motor vehicle and arson in connection with the November 16th, 2018 incident.

A van and some other items were stolen from a home on Marshall Road, with the van later found fully engulfed in flames near Okanagan Landing School.

A day later, police tried to arrest a suspect at a drive thru in Okanagan Landing, but he drove over two curbs and sped away.

At the time, North Okanagan RCMP Const. Kelly Brett described the pursuit.

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“Shortly after, the suspect was located a second time in the 4100 block of 24th Avenue, where he fled from police on foot. The suspect male led police on a short pursuit over fences and through a creek where he was ultimately apprehended and taken into custody without injury.”

Brett called Veness a “known prolific offender in the Vernon area.”

Veness will be sentenced May 27th.

by Kate Bouey

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