Car thieves, including prolific offender, get stuck in Sumas Mountain snow but can’t elude police

SUMAS MOUNTAIN — A spokesperson for the Abbotsford Police Department says a stolen vehicle has led to the arrest of a prolific offender known to police.

According to a statement from AbbyPD Sgt. Paul Walker, AbbyPD patrol officers from shift 2 received information on Monday, February 17, just before 7 a.m., about a stolen Ford F450 being followed into the Sumas Mountain area of Abbotsford. Police say the vehicle was stolen earlier that morning from a Langley hotel parking lot and contained the hockey gear of the owner’s son, who was visiting the Lower Mainland for a hockey tournament.

Responding officers arrived in the Sumas Mountain area and located the stolen truck stuck in the snow, but it was unoccupied, and the hockey gear was missing. Police figured the suspects were still in the area and began looking for them.

While patrolling near the summit, officers encountered another vehicle believed to be connected to the stolen F450. Both the police and suspect vehicles became stuck in the snow. The driver of the suspect vehicle, 40-year-old prolific offender David Anderson, and passenger 33-year-old Kristina Wardell, fled the area on foot. After a lengthy foot chase on steep, icy terrain, officers successfully apprehended both Anderson and Wardell.