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BARRHEAD - A Barrhead man received over a month in jail after admitting he was in possession of stolen property from an incident in the spring.
In Barrhead Court of Justice on Nov 27, Steven Curtis Payne pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of stolen property under $5,000.
Justice Gordon Putnam handed down the sentence of two 45-day sentences served concurrently, accepting a joint submission between the Crown and duty counsel Marshal Ilechie despite saying he "had concerns."
Putnam also waived the victim fine surcharge and ordered any items seized returned to the victims.
However, as Payne has been in custody since July 28, including 45 days of pre-trial detention for the two possession of stolen property charges, it was considered time served.
Crown prosecutor Andrew Dirgo also withdrew nine other possession of stolen property charges and a charge of possessing break-in instruments.
Facts of the crime
Dirgo said the charges date back to the morning of June 8 when Payne was arrested for mischief under $5,000 in connection with damage to a pickup truck belonging to a County of Barrhead. At the time of his arrest, police also found a set of McEwan's Fuel and Fertilizer vehicle keys.
Dirgo added further investigation, the Barrhead RCMP obtained a search warrant for the accused's residence and found five more sets of vehicle keys belonging to different owners, a Co-op fuel card, and six sets of insurance and registration documents, which were later found to belong to 12 other owners.
Defence
Ilechie noted his client had a criminal record, with the first conviction dating back to Dec. 14, 2014, for impaired driving, with the last entry being a mischief under $5,000 charge on April 6, 2022, in connection with a Westlock incident.
County of Barrhead public works infrastructure director Ken Hove, at a June 6 council meeting, stated that the pickup during an early morning June 5 break-in at about 2 a.m.
He said the culprit accessed the yard and broke into one of the workshops, stealing several vehicles' keys from a lockbox.
The individual then found a key to one of the trucks and escaped by crashing it through the closed public works yard gate.
County manager Debbie Oyarzun, in an interview with the Barrhead Leader, noted police recovered the truck a few days later, and it had suffered damage to the being limited to the passenger side from when it smashed through the gate.
