The man who was stopped by civilians after attempting a smash and grab jewelry theft from a glass display case at Cherry Lane Shopping Centre is spending the next eight months in jail.
Devon Eric Brazeau, 26, pleaded guilty to charges of attempted theft, possession of break-in instruments and breaching probation.
“The community is tired of people who continue to commit crimes and recidivists like yourself,” Judge Greg Koturbash said while handing down the sentence Thursday in Penticton Provincial Court.
On Jan. 29 at around 2 p.m. Brazeau attempted to use a modified dumbbell with duct tape and a rubber handle to smash the display case at Paris Jewellers in the Cherry Lane Shopping Centre. A bystander near the jewelry store saw Brazeau and with the help of other bystanders was able to detain the would-be thief prior to the arrival of police.
Judge Koturbash did not agree with Crown’s submission of a 90-day sentence on the charges of possessing break-in instruments to run concurrent with the other charges, instead tacking the 90 days on the sentence to run consecutively.
“This is not a situation where offences are cheaper by the dozen, this is your second offence of possessing a break-in instrument in less than a year,” Koturbash said, noting an aggravating factor in sentencing was the premeditation and planning implied by the possession of the break-in instrument.
Koturbash also ordered Brazeau not possess a multitude of break-in instruments including hammers and bolt cutters all the way up to night-vision goggles.
“There’s different ways that no break-in tools (orders) can be framed, it’s really at the preference of each judge. That’s the judges preference in this case, so there’s no suggestion that he had any of those tools, but it’s obviously something that the judge feels is common,” Crown counsel Kurt Froehlich said.
Brazeau was also sentenced to 18 months probation, is not to attend Cherry Lane Shopping Centre and was ordered to pay back reparations to Paris Jewellers in the amount of $224 as well as $400 in victim surcharges.