Prolific Vernon offender pleads guilty to multiple charges including arson

VERNON – A Vernon man who stole an SUV then promptly torched it after police caught up with him, has pleaded guilty to a multitude of charges surrounding the incident last fall.

Sheldon Donald Lee Veness, born in 1993, pleaded guilty to seven charges related to break and enter, vehicle theft, arson, dangerous driving, fleeing from police and driving while prohibited. Veness appeared by video at the Vernon courthouse today, March 28, to plead guilty to the charges.

Veness was arrested in November, 2018 after fleeing police on two separate occasions over a weekend.

On Nov. 16, 2018, police responded to the theft of a Dodge Journey at the 3900 block of Marshall Road, but Veness eluded police and torched the vehicle near Okanagan Landing Elementary School shortly afterwards. The following day he avoided police again, before finally being caught after a short chase on foot which took officers over fences and through a creek.

Veness is a prolific offender with a lengthy criminal record, who was sentenced in 2017 to 15-and-a-half months in prison for property-related crimes and credit card. The judge at the time said it was "not surprising" Veness was back in front of the court, and that he had developed an addiction to heroin and recently to fentanyl.

Veness is scheduled to be sentenced May 27.

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