Man sentenced after fleeing moving taxi on Highway 400 leaving behind handguns, drugs, and cash

CTV News

2 days ago

A 25-year-old Sudbury man is facing jail time after an incident in 2023 that shut down Highway 400 and resulted in the seizure of cash, narcotics, and firearms.
On Sept., 16, 2023, provincial police out of Orillia responded to a weapons call along Highway 400 near Mount St. Louis Road.
The call came after a taxi driver said that a passenger, heading to Sudbury, had demanded to flee the moving vehicle. The man got out on the side of the highway and left behind $18,000, cocaine, and a loaded handgun in the back of the cab.
Provincial police launched a search operation. Members of the OPP Emergency Response Team, rescue units, OPP Canine Unit, and York Regional Police Air Support Unit assisted in shutting down both directions of Highway 400.
During the search, officers found another loaded handgun close by, along with a large quantity of suspected cocaine and additional cash.
At roughly 2:30 a.m. the next day, officers received a report of a suspicious person walking along the highway. Police ended up arresting the man shortly after, confirming it was the same suspect linked to the taxi incident.
The investigation led to multiple charges including careless storage of a firearm, tampering with the serial number of a firearm, failure to comply with probation order and a plethora of other charges. The man was sentenced to 868 days in custody, a weapons order for 10 years, and a DNA order.