Notorious Kelowna, B.C. criminal on the lam caught napping

A notorious Kelowna criminal who took off from a Surrey recovery home was rearrested Thursday while taking a nap.

Shortly before noon Thursday, two people were reported for being passed out in a vehicle in Peachland. The Mountie who attended the scene immediately recognized the man in the driver seat as 35-year-old John Michael Aronson.

“Aronson had been on the run for several days after cutting off his monitoring device while under court order to live at a halfway house in Surrey, B.C.,” RCMP said in a press release.

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“Both Mr. Aronson, who is well known to police, and his female passenger have been arrested and are being held in Kelowna cells awaiting their court appearance.”

Aronson was most recently arrested on charges of robbery, using and possessing a gun unlawfully, committing a crime with a gun, using a gun without a licence and using a gun while prohibited from doing so.

His criminal record, however, stretches on long before those charges, with some of the incidents being very high-profile and high-risk.

He first gained a significant amount of attention in 2018 after he was shot during a high-profile arrest at Orchard Park Mall.

Police cornered him near the bank after trying multiple times to arrest him and he suffered a gunshot wound and a bite from a police dog, the court heard in the trial that followed.

He also spent 251 days in jail for the crime. The sentencing judge let him walk away from the courthouse time served, after a statement of contrition.

“Almost dying was an eye-opener for me,” Aronson said in court Sept. 23, 2019 as he was sentenced to time served for charges including flight from police and dangerous driving. He also had a weapons and driving ban imposed.

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“I want to be there for my children. I’ve got a different focus on my life. I’m sorry (for) what I did. You won’t see me back here again.”

That same day, he caught the attention of the RCMP as he raced down Highway 97. They took pursuit and he was eventually apprehended when he crashed his car, shutting down the road for hours.

In that incident, he suffered a fractured skull and broke his arm, shoulder, femur, pelvis, knee and ankle.

Before a 2018 incident where he ran from police, Aronson already had more than 30 prior convictions for crimes including driving while suspended as well as multiple assault and resisting arrest charges.