Salmon Arm Law Courts

(CHARLOTTE HELSTON / iNFOnews.ca)

Anthony Daniel McDonald walked into Askew's supermarket in Salmon Arm in January 2024, loaded up a cart with more than $500 of groceries and walked out without paying.

A couple of months later, he swiped a $68 bottle of liquor from Setters Liquor Store.

His next target was DeMille's Farm Market, where again he wandered out with $200 of groceries in his basket.

Over the next year, McDonald pulled the same trick several times, walking out of Save-On-Foods in both Revelstoke and Salmon Arm with a shopping cart full of groceries. One was valued at $700.

While in Vernon, the 50-year-old walked out of Safeway with a shopping cart full of groceries. The store said it had "on going" issues with him.

He also swiped $600 of merchandise from Shoppers Drug Mart, when he walked out with a full basket without paying.

McDonald, who's in custody, appeared in a Salmon Arm courtroom Tuesday, May 20, facing 14 charges, mostly for theft. 

"He's committing the same crime over and over again," Crown prosecutor Jason McNiven told the court. "He's filling grocery carts full of groceries and leaving... He also doesn't show signs of stopping at this point."

The Crown said he was not stealing out of necessity.

McDonald was caught early on in his crime spree – he once threw a packet of oysters and a stuffed animal at an employee who apprehended him – and police easily recognized him from CCTV footage.

However, each time he was caught, he was always released and continued stealing.

READ MORE: Prolific Kelowna shoplifter ordered to pay stores back

The Crown prosecutor said he only slowed down after a brief stint in jail.

Early this year, he was put under house arrest, but was nowhere to be found when the RCMP turned up one morning to check on him.

He spent a night or two behind bars and was again released on house arrest.

On May 15, when Salmon Arm RCMP went to check he was home at 1 a.m. he wasn't there.

Once police caught up with him, he was placed in custody.

The court heard how McDonald didn't have much of a criminal record, except for a drunk driving 20 years ago and a conviction of theft almost a decade ago.

Defence lawyer Claire Mastop said McDonald had been sober for a decade but had slipped back into substance use two years ago when his relationship ended.

"He let his life fall apart," Mastop told the court.

When asked, McDonald apologized to the court.

The Crown argued for six months in jail.

READ MORE: Penticton man who abandoned family returns to sue for family home

BC Provincial Court Judge George Levan settled for a little bit less.

"I am very concerned about the number of offences that you come before the court with here. These are offences that do cost the community... retailers have to put their losses into their prices. Everybody ends up paying," Judge Leven said.

McDonald pleaded guilty to nine charges and was given three and a half months in jail, followed by 12 months on probation.

The judge said that as McDonald has no way to pay back his victims, he wouldn't impose a restitution order, but instead, McDonald would have to do some community work service while on probation.

Crown prosecutors stayed a further five charges, and as is standard practice, no reasons were given for doing so.

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