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Kelowna  

Repeat offender charged again less than two months after release

Repeat offender charged

"I certainly hope we don't see you back here again," Judge Clarke Burnett said at the end of John Aronson's sentencing hearing back in May of 2021.

"Me too," replied Aronson.

But Aronson, a long-time repeat offender in Kelowna with a criminal record dating back to 2006, now faces additional charges stemming from an incident this past July. The alleged offences occurred less than two months after his previous sentence expired, and while he was still under probation conditions.

He is currently out of custody on bail.

Aronson's most recent brush with the law stems from an alleged Kelowna robbery on July 5, although the details of the robbery are not clear at this time. As a result, Aronson was charged with robbery using a restricted firearm, along with five other firearm offences.

He was arrested on July 21 and remained in custody until Sept. 16, when he was granted bail by Judge Brian Daley. He's next scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 20.

Aronson has been involved in several high-profile police incident around the Central Okanagan in recent years, the most recent taking place on Sept. 23, 2019. Just hours after he was released from custody on prior convictions, Aronson was followed by police over the Bennett Bridge towards West Kelowna.

Aronson was prohibited from driving, and when the officer attempted to pull him over, he attempted to flee. He didn't get far though, skidding out on the wet highway and crossing the centre median before he was T-boned by an oncoming truck.

Aronson was seriously injured in the crash and was hospitalized for two months. He was confined to a wheelchair for many months as a result of the crash. In May of 2021, Aronson was sentenced to three years and four months for the 2019 crash, but with credit for time served, he was left with just one year to serve.

He was denied parole in September of 2021, due to concerns about his “violent offending, poor supervision history and inconsistent behaviour at your current institution.” He's believed to have served his entire sentence in custody, until May of this year.

Prior to fleeing from police and crashing in September 2019, Aronson was convicted of six offences stemming from a January 2019 incident outside the CIBC near Orchard Park Mall. During his arrest, he was shot by police and bitten by a police dog.

During his sentencing on that matter, Aronson told the court: “Obviously what was done was a good eye-opener and I want to be there for my kids except that I was in a bad state of life and I was using. I didn't care what I did. It got control of my life. I'm sorry for what I did and you are not going to see me back in here.”

During his May 2021 sentencing, Judge Clarke Burnett called Aronson's words “meaningless.”

Aronson has been well known to police for a number of years. He had previously been arrested in two “high-risk takedowns” in Rutland, in connection with a violent break and enter in West Kelowna in 2017.

After his first arrest on those charges, he was released on bail and quickly stopped attending court. Police found him and made a second “high-risk takedown."

Despite the RCMP's efforts, the Crown ended up dropping Aronson's seven charges from the 2017 break and enter in November 2018, after the prosecutor determined “the charge assessment standard was no longer met.”

Aronson's record dates back to 2006 in Kelowna, when the then 18-year-old was jailed for 30 days for obstructing an officer and escaping from custody.



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