A man will spend another three weeks in jail and has been ordered to pay back just over $800 to Mastercard and Visa after he stole a woman’s purse and used her credit cards.
Police responded to a woman’s report that her purse had gone missing while she was at The Bay in Penticton on Jul. 10, 2016, and her credit cards inside the purse had been fraudulently used to purchase $800 worth of merchandise.
“She looked in all of the areas that she believed her purse might be, but it could not be located,” said Crown lawyer John Swanson. “When she got home, she had a telephone message from Visa advising her that someone was trying to use her credit card and to contact Visa immediately.”
Upon calling Visa, she was told someone had been using her credit card.
Police contacted a loss prevention officer at Wal-Mart, where the woman’s credit cards had been used, among six other locations, and an RCMP officer was able to identify Richard Meier.
The total transactions added up to $801.82 between the two cards, with just under $110 being charged to the Mastercard.
Meier was also found to be in breach of a probation order in Surrey over a change of address that he did not report to his probation officer, which defence lawyer Michael Patterson said occurred because Meier had been attending addictions treatment, but found he was not getting the supports he needed.
Meier then became homeless for a short period of time as a result of dropping the treatment.
“Mr. Meier has a long criminal history, and it is fuelled right throughout with drugs in and out of treatment facilities,” Patterson said. “But he should be given credit for the fact that he keeps trying, and he wants to go back to a new treatment facility on his release so he can make another attempt.”
Crown and defence put forward five months in jail as a joint submission, and with 146 days’ enhanced credit for 97 days served in jail, Meier will have six days left on his fraud and theft charges, with another 15 days for the bail breaches, making 21 days left in total.
He will also have two years to pay back all of the $800 to the credit card companies, and two years’ probation following his jail sentence.
@dustinrgodfrey
dustin.godfrey@pentictonwesternnews.com
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