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Couple sentenced in relation to 2016 police standoff

Incident took place at home on Riverside Road in Abbotsford
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A couple has been sentenced in relation to an incident that took place last November in Abbotsford, resulting in a police standoff.

Jason Mark Joseph McGraw, 35, and Jenny Lea Barnsdale, 40 – both of no fixed address – were each charged a week after the incident, which took place Nov. 23, 2016.

Police received reports at about 8 a.m. that day of a vehicle being driven erratically on Highway 1 and then crashing twice — the first time into an SUV near the intersection of Lonzo Road and Sumas Way in Abbotsford, and the second time into a cement barricade on Lonzo Road near Walmart.

The vehicle was later confirmed to have been stolen from Vernon.

The car’s two occupants then fled on foot into a home on Riverside Road. A police dog unit tracked them to the residence, and they initially refused to come out.

A man came out of the house at about 9:45 a.m. and had a pistol in his hand, which he dropped to the ground. He initially complied with police orders to crawl on the ground, but then stood up and refused to follow their commands.

He was subdued by two rounds from an Arwen projectile gun and was taken into custody. The pistol was determined to be a replica.

Police soon determined that the woman had suffered injuries in the two crashes, and she was taken out of the home at about 10:45 a.m. She was taken to hospital for treatment and was then released into police custody.

McGraw and Barnsdale were subsequently each charged with possession of stolen property and break-and-enter.

McGraw was also charged with possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose, and remained in custody from the time of his arrest until sentencing.

He pleaded guilty to the break-and-enter and weapon charges, and received an additional 11 days in jail to be followed by one year of probation and a lifetime weapons ban.

Barnsdale pleaded guilty to break-and-enter and received a one-year jail term.

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Jason McGraw was arrested by police following a standoff on Riverside Road in Abbotsford in November 2016. He has now been sentenced. (Vikki Hopes file photo) Jenny Barnsdale and Jason McGraw have been sentenced in relation to a police standoff that occurred in Abbotsford in November 2016.


Vikki Hopes

About the Author: Vikki Hopes

I have been a journalist for almost 40 years, and have been at the Abbotsford News since 1991.
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