A Pender Harbour man was sentenced to a 30-day conditional sentence to be served in the community plus one year of probation in Sechelt Provincial Court on May 17 for theft-related charges.
By entering a guilty plea to two charges, Kyle William Schroeder waived his right to a trial on the matters. Those were a charge of theft of items valued at $5,000 or less related to removal of items from the Garden Bay Petro Canada property between Sept. 14 and 18, 2021 and a charge of possession of stolen property, after being apprehended by RCMP driving a vehicle that had been removed from a storage area at a Halfmoon Bay Fire Hall on Jan. 18, 2023.
The sentence was handed down by Judge Patricia Bond who attended the sentencing via video link. Conditions of the sentence included a curfew requiring Schroeder to be inside his residence between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. daily unless he has the written permission of his probation officer or needs to travel for medical treatment. He is not to attend the site of either offense, with an allowance that he may be at the Petro Canada site to purchase fuel for his vehicle during restricted times and that must use the “pay at the pump option” at that location. He is also barred from being in the possession of “any tools” outside of his residence or his immediate place of work. All conditions except the curfew are to remain in force throughout his probation.
Defence counsel Darcy Lawrence requested the conditional sentence and told the court his client had recently obtained a stable housing situation, which was a “significant step in his battle with addiction." Schroeder made no statements to the judge.
In the sentencing, Bond remarked that although he had a “notable criminal record dating back to 2001” there had been a 14-year gap in offences between 2006 and 2021. She waived the imposition of a victim surcharge.
