Man Who Stole Ambulance Gets Six Years in Prison
October 4, 2024

ST. LOUIS, MO (October 4, 2024) — Dwane Vardiman, 49, was sentenced to six years in prison Thursday for resisting arrest and tampering with a motor vehicle. Vardiman was found guilty in June of resisting arrest and tampering with a motor vehicle after stealing an ambulance from a hospital in Jefferson County and leading police on a pursuit through the city on October 3, 2022.


Vardiman had spent the night of October 2, 2022, at Mercy Hospital in Festus for a fentanyl overdose. At 8:30 a.m. the next day, he stole an ambulance belonging to the Valle Ambulance District parked outside the hospital and drove it into St. Louis. Two police officers in a patrol car saw the ambulance heading south on Jefferson Avenue at an excessive rate of speed and began to pursue it with their warning lights and sirens on.


During a 20-minute pursuit, Vardiman sped through heavy morning traffic, running red lights and driving in construction zones. He struck two police cars and one car driven by a civilian. The pursuit ended when police deployed spike strips and deflated his tires.


Vardiman was sentenced to six years for stealing the ambulance and four years for resisting arrest, to be served concurrently, by 22nd Judicial Circuit Judge Theresa C. Burke.


The case was prosecuted by Assistant Circuit Attorneys Andrew Russek and Kerri Davis.


Vardiman’s case number is 2222-CR01494-01.


              ### 

For Immediate Release

For more information contact:

Amber Raub

Public Information Officer

St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office

rauba@stlouiscao.org

314-589-6233 (office)

314-312-9912 (cell)

More News

July 30, 2025
On Wednesday, a jury found Jaron Sims, 37, guilty for his role in a reckless street race through North City that ended in tragedy.
July 28, 2025
The beating death of a 3-year-old boy, followed days later by a violent robbery, has resulted in an 18-year prison sentence for Timothy L. Robinson, 37, of St. Louis.
July 25, 2025
A St. Louis man was sentenced Friday to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of a convenience store worker in the city’s Dutchtown neighborhood.