A man who pleaded guilty to stealing a jack will serve out his jail sentence on weekends, Grand Forks provincial court heard Wednesday, Oct. 20.
Edward “Joe” Wright, 48, was charged last October with theft under $5,000 and trespassing at night. Appearing before Judge Robert Brown at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, Wright pleaded guilty to the theft, maintaining his innocence on the second count.
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At around 4 a.m. July 11, 2020, Wright made off with a wheel jack he’d found on a private driveway on the 200-block of 75th Avenue, Crown and defence counsels told Brown. Grand Forks RCMP caught up with Wright later that morning, at which point both sides agreed he admitted his guilt and offered to recover the jack.
“He did so and the jack was returned to the complainant,” prosecutor Rebecca Smyth said.
Smyth and Wright’s lawyer, Nelson Selamaj, jointly recommended that the accused serve out his time at an RCMP detachment over a period of successive weekends. Wright’s property crime was essentially one of opportunity, Smyth noted. Property crime is a serious and genuine concern in Grand Forks, Smyth told the court, qualifying that Wright hadn’t broke in to the residence when he stole the jack.
Calling his criminal record “a continuous flow of not the most egregious offences,” Brown credited Wright on having returned the jack.
“I don’t view you as a risk to society,” Brown told Wright, noting that it was rare for a thief to return stolen property. “But, I have to warn you that if you keep this up, someone’s going to send you away for a significant period so that people can go to bed at night, knowing their stuff’s not going to be stolen.”
Wright will serve 21 days at the Trail RCMP detachment starting on the weekend of Oct. 29-31. Grand Forks RCMP isn’t able to accommodate weekend stays, the court heard.
Symth then stayed Wright’s criminal trespass charge.
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