Fraser Valley drug dealer's police pursuits, even after hitting spike belts, might be more dangerous than his bags of meth

Antonio Nolasco Padia has an ignoble record of fleeing from officers in motor vehicles, assaulting officers, and crashing into cruisers causing damage, sometimes barely avoiding tragedy

On a summer day eight years ago, then RCMP Supt. Deanne Burleigh invited the media to celebrate a bust, arrests, and a dramatic display in the parking lot in front of the Chilliwack RCMP detachment on Airport Road.

Laid out on folding plastic tables as if it was a garage sale was as many as four kilograms of cocaine in plastic bags, 200 grams of heroin, a clear garbage bag full of cannabis, sawed-off shotguns, a rifle, a handgun, and $130,000 in cash.

What was given secondary attention behind the drugs and guns was a 2006 Porsche Cayenne and a 2016 Harley-Davidson Dyna. And while Antonio Dillon Nolasco Padia has never been convicted of using a firearm, with motor vehicles he's done staggering damage and put arresting officers at serious risk, not to mention the general public.

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Padia is well-known to police in the Fraser Valley with a lengthy criminal record, and who has given police officers in two provinces a few unwelcome chances to test their spike belts.

Appearing via video from Surrey Pretrial Centre, Nolasco Padia was in Chilliwack provincial court on Monday (March 17, 2025) for a bail hearing on a total of 11 charges on the three latest files.

When confronted with arrest, if Antonio Nolasco Padia is in a vehicle, this guy will almost certainly flee. He’s escalating and he’s a danger to the community, to innocent pedestrians and drivers on Chilliwack streets.

Since he had his driver's licence suspended indefinitely a decade ago, he has convictions for driving while prohibited, dangerous operation of a vehicle, and flight from police in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and now he faces charges in what were allegedly two of most serious incidents involving spike belts, pursuits through residential areas, allegations of ramming police vehicles and assaulting officers from 2024 and two weeks ago.

Public information show his adult criminal record started as soon as he was 18. Nolasco Padia was convicted of driving while prohibited in 2015, 2016, and 2017, along with breaches and various other offences. From 2019 to 2025, he has charges and/or convictions for dangerous driving and flight from police.

All of this dangerous driving is in addition to the big drug/gun/cash bust in 2017 that prompted the police show-and-tell. In that case, Nolasco Padia was a minor player in a large illegal drug operation run by gangster Lucas Thiessen.

Six days after the police show-and-tell, which also included sharing Nolasco Padia’s mugshot because he was on the lam, and five days after his mother issued a public plea for him to turn himself in, he was arrested. Then 21, he pleaded guilty to one count of possession for the purpose of trafficking and was sentenced to time served and was released. Thiessen is at Kent Institution having been sentenced to nearly nine years on Oct. 25, 2018, since which he was convicted in a conspiracy with a corrections officer to import drugs and phones and weapons into Kent.

A few of Nolasco Padia's memorable driving escapades

• 2019 • Banff  

On Sept. 18, 2019, Nolasco-Padia and convicted local drug dealer Dina Anthony, 55, were driving on Highway 1 within Banff National Park when Alberta RCMP attempted to pull them over. They fled.

With the help of a Calgary Police Service helicopter, RCMP officers from Banff, Canmore and Kannanaskis attempted to stop the pair west of Dead Man’s Flats using a spike belt. Nolasco-Padia hit the belt, drove the disabled vehicle into oncoming traffic. Then he attempted to steal another vehicle by force, according to an RCMP release. 

“Moments later, the suspect was apprehended by RCMP Police Dog Services. The female passenger in the suspect vehicle was arrested without further incident.” 

Police seized approximately 50 fentanyl tablets, 30 grams of methamphetamine, five grams of cocaine along with a loaded, prohibited handgun.

• 2021 • Garrison Crossing, Chilliwack

At approximately 2 a.m. on Jan. 3, 2021, a number of residents of the Garrison Crossing neighbourhood said they heard fast-moving vehicles, and others saw lots of police in pursuit.

“I witnessed the car fly by the house followed by between 10 to 15, primarily police SUVs in tow, over the next three to five minutes,” a witness told me at the time. “He spun out/crashed at Sappers and Watson. Heard the police yell ‘put your hands up’ and muffled resistance.”

Nolasco Padia was charged with dangerous operation of a conveyance, flight from police, wilfully resisting or obstructing a peace officer, assaulting peace officer, and two counts of driving while prohibited.

He was convicted of dangerous operation of a conveyance and flight from police and was given a nine-month conditinoal sentence, one year probation, and a three-year driving ban, kind of moot because he already isn't allowed to drive as far as ICBC is concerned.

• 2022 • Chilliwack

I don't have the details but on June 11, 2022 he did it again, and was convicted of dangerous operation of a conveyance, driving while disqualified. He was sentenced to 12 months probation with a three-year criminal driving prohibition. 

He then allegedly breach the conditions of his release on Sept. 19, Nov. 2, and Nov. 8. 2023. These were the first of the three files for which he had a bail hearing Monday.

• 2024 • Village West, Chilliwack

Bail hearings are subject to publication bans under section 517 of the criminal code for the sake of preventing potential jurors from being exposed to evidence that may not later be admissible at trial. 

So while the details can’t be shared, on March 30, 2024, while subject to multiple outstanding warrants, the now 28-year-old allegedly engaged in a protracted and violent attempt to flee police arrest in a vehicle.

He is charged with two counts of assaulting peace officers, wilfully resisting or obstructing arrest, driving while disqualified, and driving while prohibited.

• 2025  • Tzeachten, Vedder & Garrison Crossing, Chilliwack

The latest alleged dangerous driving incident that landed him behind bars this time was just two weeks ago, March 4, 2025.

Again, details that came out in the bail hearing cannot be reported at this time, but suffice it to say the incident involved dangerous driving, reckless behaviour, and had the potential to cause harm to bystanders or officers.

For that incident he is charged with flight from police, dangerous operation, and driving while disqualified.

In or out?

In court Monday, Crown applied to have his bail revoked on the 2022 matter for which he is facing breach charges, and have bail denied for the 2024 and 2025 matters.

Nolasco Padia's lawyer, Balpreet Khaira, asked the court to release him on $1,000 cash bail. After Crown presented their case to keep this chronic dangerous driver behind bars, the hearing was delayed and possibly postponed to future date when an important circumstance was raised by Nolasco Padia himself. Crown counsel Amy Carter said these factors had never come up before and neither she nor defence had any evidence to present.

The judge adjourned the hearing so defence could provide evidence. As of the break for lunch in provincial court in Chilliwack on Monday, the case is adjourned and Nolasco Padia remains behind bars.

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Paul J. Henderson
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