(CHARLOTTE HELSTON / iNFOnews.ca)
May 09, 2014 - 10:16 AM
VERNON - A B.C. man accused of pilfering a privy remains knee-deep in legal woes after the province's highest court flushed his appeal of two stolen-property convictions.
Robert Anthony Andel's troubles began to pile up when Mounties from Lumby, B.C., visited his rural Lavington property to investigate the theft of a $2,000 cedar-log outhouse.
Court documents say that while on the property, police found other stolen goods, including a truck and trailer, resulting in almost two dozen charges of possessing of stolen property.
The Crown proceeded with two charges, and Andel was found guilty of possessing the truck and trailer, convictions he appealed on constitutional grounds.
B.C. Court of Appeal Justice Harvey Groberman concluded in his ruling that police likely violated Andel's rights when they searched an area around his recreational vehicle.
But Groberman dismissed the man's appeal, saying it wasn't clear that the search was connected in any way to the evidence challenged by Andel in court.
Andel was found guilty of stealing a Dodge Ram truck and driving it into a house on January 31, 2010.
To contact the reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston at chelston@infotelnews.ca or call 250-309-5230. To contact the editor, email mjones@infotelnews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2014