New charges have been laid against a man awaiting sentencing in connection with a crime spree in Sylvan Lake.
Blackfalds RCMP announced on Friday that a former Blackfalds resident, Jesse Bissonnette, 29, was arrested on Tuesday by police investigating a recent rash of vehicle thefts from Blackfalds and the rural area southeast of Lacombe.
Cpl. Barry Larocque of the Blackfalds RCMP said a suspect attracted attention on Tuesday when a stolen car blew by an RCMP vehicle at a high rate of speed on Hwy 2, south of Red Deer.
Police allege that the speeding vehicle turned off the highway and ended up on a dead-end road, where it struck an RCMP vehicle before being brought to a stop.
Bissonnette is charged with eight counts of possession of stolen property and one count each of dangerous driving and flight from police. He was granted bail on Friday and is scheduled to enter his plea at the Case Management Office of Red Deer provincial court on April 4.
The day before his arrest, Bissonnette had pleaded guilty to offences including possession of the proceeds of crime, possession of drugs and possession of drugs for trafficking.
Represented by defence counsel Patty MacNaughton, he is scheduled for sentencing on Aug. 19.
The older charges arise from an investigation by Sylvan Lake RCMP in September.
Police allege that they had received calls at about 1 a.m. on Sept. 4 of two suspicious men with a car that had broken down on the Rainy Creek Road, about six kilometres west of Sunbreaker Cove. Police allege that one of the two men broke into a nearby barn and took off on a dirt bike he found inside.
One suspect was arrested at the site and the other was apprehended on Aspelund Road, west of Blackfalds.
Investigators later determined that the broken-down car had been stolen in Blackfalds earlier on and was then involved in a robbery and assault at a Sylvan Lake gas station.
Also arrested in connection with the Sylvan Lake investigation was Florian Edward Poitra, 32, of Innisfail.
Poitra pleaded guilty in October and is currently serving a sentence of four years on a variety of drug and property offences.
bkossowan@www.reddeeradvocate.com