A 23-year-old Williams Lake man is in police custody and expected to appear before a justice of the peace later today (Tuesday) after an attempted break-in at the rural community of Kersley, south of Quesnel.
At 4:27 a.m. on Dec. 30, the Quesnel RCMP received a report of an intruder alarm at the Kersley General Store, said Corp. Dave Tyreman, North District RCMP media relations.
Officers arrived and learned the store owner had interrupted the break-in.
The intruder, who fled north on Highway 97 by foot, was described as a First Nations male, five feet eight inches tall, wearing jeans and a T-Shirt.
A vehicle left behind when the suspect fled was later determined to be stolen out of Williams Lake.
While conducting patrols for the suspect, officers saw a suspicious vehicle turn down Dragon Lake Road.
When officers conducted further patrols, they found the vehicle abandoned on Datoff Road.
Police followed footprints in the fresh snow that lead from the abandoned vehicle to an outbuilding on a local property and arrested the suspect without incident.
The second abandoned vehicle turned out to be stolen from the Quesnel area.