RCMP have their man; prolific offender in custody

PENTICTON – The RCMP manhunt for prolific offender Ronald Teneycke has ended with his arrest near Keremeos.

Teneycke was located and arrested around 10:40 a.m. today, July 23, in Cawston, according to a RCMP media release. An officer spotted a vehicle matching the description of the the one which Teneycke stole yesterday.

RCMP say Teneycke fled up the Fairview-Cawston Road when he realized he’d been spotted, only to be intercepted by the RCMP Emergency Response Team. The wanted man then turned around and drove into a Cawston orchard where he was pursued and arrested.

No one was hurt in the apprehension. Teneycke is expected to appear in Penticton Provincial Court tomorrow.

A massive manhunt for the Tyenycke was touched off yesterday when his pickup was found on a forest service road east of Osoyoos. Teneycke was wanted in connection with an armed robbery at the Eastside Grocery in Oliver on July 16, along with several warrants.

There was large police presence in Okanagan Falls late yesterday afternoon and 10 Avenue was shut down.

According to a man who lives in the area, the RCMP were checking out a man and a woman in a motorhome parked in the driveway of a home owned by Teneycke's mother.

The neighbour, who wishes to remain anonymous, says the home has been empty for a while.

He says the man and woman in the RV were there when police arrived.

“I had just gone to the store and was coming back between 4:30 and 5 p.m. and that’s when all hell broke loose,” he says, adding he saw a man being detained by police.

It's not known who he was or why he was taken into police custody.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Steve Arstad at sarstad@infonews.ca or call 250-488-3065. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.

— This story was updated at 4:22 p.m., Thursday, July 23, 2015 to include more infomation from the RCMP.