Vernon Courthouse

(CHARLOTTE HELSTON / iNFOnews.ca)

VERNON - A career criminal who duped a man into letting him test drive his motorcycle and then rode off with it will have to give the man a court-ordered apology.

Robert Lapp, 35, stole the motorcycle last July, 2016, Crown counsel Miho Ogi-Harris said during a sentence hearing yesterday, Feb. 6, in Vernon Provincial Court.

The motorcycle owner had just left a Tim Hortons in Kelowna when Lapp met him in the parking lot and started asking him questions about the vehicle, Ogi-Harris said.

Lapp asked if he could take it for a drive around the parking lot, which the owner thought was weird, but agreed to. But instead of looping back, Lapp sped off with the motorcycle.

The theft is one of a handful of charges Lapp was sentenced for on Monday. He is also charged with possession of stolen property related to a June 5, 2016 break and enter at AMI Clothing in Vernon. A Macbook was taken, and the owner’s Find my iPhone App eventually led him to Lapp, who said he’d purchased the computer from someone else. Lapp handed over the computer to the owner and said he’d just gotten out of jail and didn’t want to get the police involved.

Lapp is also charged with two counts of possession of a small quantity of heroin and methamphetamine found after police found and arrested him Oct. 1, 2016 at a residence in Vernon.

He was also charged with driving while prohibited and breaching court ordered conditions.

Judge Dennis Morgan referenced Lapp’s long criminal history of 45 convictions, including five break and enters, six thefts and eight possession of stolen property charges. At the time of the motorcycle theft, he was on probation for a previous break and enter, Crown counsel Ogi-Harris said.

“He was out of custody less than two weeks and then he breached,” she said.

Lapp’s criminal activity has been ‘unabated’ since 1997, Judge Dennis Morgan said.

Defence lawyer Claire Mastop said Lapp knows he wouldn’t have gotten into so much trouble if he hadn’t been doing drugs.

With credit for time already served, Morgan ordered Lapp to serve six months of new time in jail, followed by 12 months probation.

He was also ordered to pay roughly $1,700 in restitution to the owner of the motorcycle, and to give him an apology as directed by his probation officer.

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