CRIME IN QATHET PART II: Three of qathet’s chronic offenders and their recent sentences

Crime, Courts & Corrections: Why qathet’s criminals are bouncing out of jail & what’s coming next

An end to surging crime: Part 2

This article is the second in qathet Living magazine’s three-part series on crime in this region.

Part 1 explored the crimes themselves: what is happening, and what is the impact on this community?

Part 2 dives in to courts and corrections: how changes to our justice system are playing out locally.

Part 3 asks what those who are perpetrating the crimes need to be able to stop harming this community and themselves, and re-join society.

We hope these stories help inform the current conversation about crime, justice, addiction, and solutions. And, we hope to hear from you.

Please send letters (ideally before the 20th of the month) to isabelle@prliving.ca.

Three of qathet’s chronic offenders and their recent sentences

Although it’s common for media to name offenders when reporting on court, we’re choosing not to do so here. The reason is, these are not being reported as news items, but as examples of how the local justice system is handling local crime.

If you’d like to confirm that these are real cases, they can be found in Powell River Law Courts records, which any citizen is free to access.

Example #1

On August 18, 2021, RCMP responded to a break, enter and theft from a home in Cranberry in which a Fitbit and cell phone were stolen. Police were patrolling the area when an officer observed *** being chased by Mitchell Brothers employees for having stolen from the grocery store. *** was arrested for theft and when searched police found the stolen Fitbit, cellphone and groceries in her bag.

On October 21, the same woman was caught on video walking up the driveway to a Kokanee Place residence and leaving with a basket of canned food. Police located *** and she was charged with break and enter.

On July 12, 2022, *** appeared in Powell River Provincial Court and was sentenced for several offences, including break and enter (guilty of the lesser included offence of theft), theft under $5,000, possession of stolen property and failure to comply with a probation order. She was given a suspended sentence, probation of 18 months, 30 hours of community service, apology letters to the victims and a victim surcharge fine of $100.

Example #2

*** was convicted for multiple counts of theft on February 15 including one count of theft of mail, a count of break and enter, two counts of theft under $5,000 and dangerous operation of a conveyance. For that, he was given a one-year conditional sentence order to be served in the community. Crown counsel directed a stay of proceedings on a theft of vehicle charge and a theft charge.

Example #3

Prolific property offender *** was arrested and charged with multiple counts of break and enter, possession of stolen property, possession of break-in instruments, mischief, breach of undertaking, breach of probation order and thefts on October 30, 2021. These charges were inclusive of 10 police investigations forwarded for charge assessment to Crown counsel.

On February 3, *** appeared in the Provincial Court of British Columbia and was convicted on six of the police investigations. The remaining four investigations that included nine different charges had a stay of proceedings entered by the Crown prosecutor. *** was sentenced to 180 days jail and 18 months of probation. With time already served, he served an additional 36 days before he was released.