Police have released names of two men accused of going on a New Year’s Eve and Day crime spree stretching from rural Ponoka to Fort Saskatchewan and back to Ponoka.
RCMP allege the pair were responsible for stealing a truck in Ponoka, and two snowmobiles from the Daysland and Bawlf areas before allegedly taking a car and driving it to Fort Saskatchewan.
Police tried to stop a vehicle following an impaired driving complaint.
Later in the day, a dangerous driving complaint led Ponoka RCMP to tracking down a car, reported stolen, partway on railway tracks south of Ponoka.
The suspects then allegedly broke into a building, stole a car and drove it to Fort Saskatchewan. Police later discovered from witnesses that two men had hitched a ride from an unsuspecting citizen who drove the men to a residence in Lacombe.
Lacombe Police Service, RCMP Ponoka and police dog services attended the residence in Lacombe and arrested the pair without incident.
Cody Friesen, 19, of Sylvan Lake and Derek Weninger, 21, of Red Deer will both be in Ponoka provincial court for election and plea on Friday in connection with charges of: theft of a pickup truck from Ponoka, theft of snowmobiles from Daysland and Bawlf, break and enter and theft of a car from Bawlf, failing to stop for police in Fort Saskatchewan, and a Railway Safety Act charge.