Troubled cancer crusader Steve Fonyo has been charged with credit card fraud in Delta, B.C.
The former Order of Canada recipient was arrested on Thursday at his Surrey home on suspicion that he had used counterfeit gas cards to buy fuel from a North Delta station on three separate occasions.
Fonyo made his first appearance in Surrey provincial court to face the single charge on Friday morning.
Delta police Const. Cal Traversy told ctvbc.ca that Fonyo is being held in custody based on conditions from previous arrests.
The 45-year-old was arrested as part of an ongoing investigation into fraudulent gas purchases at a single gas station, where more than $60,000 worth of sham purchases have been made, Traversy said.
"(Fonyo) just became a part of it in the course of the investigation," he said.
A troubled past
Fonyo is a recovering drug addict, and has led a difficult life since his historic coast-to-coast run raised millions of dollars for cancer research.
He was awarded the Order of Canada in 1985, when he was just 18 years old, but that honour was revoked in January.
Fonyo and his fiancée Lisa Greenwood were planning to move from Surrey to Victoria.
Greenwood has recently finished serving 57 days in jail on theft and assault convictions, and is now serving a six-month conditional sentence on charges of theft, uttering threats and breach of an undertaking.
The pair was planning to marry last this month on the Vancouver Island Beach named in Fonyo's honour.
