Brandon Sun - PRINT EDITION
A first-time burglar who made off with nearly $20,000 worth of jewelry has been sentenced to jail for that and other thefts.
Dalton Michael Connell, 19, claimed that he stole the precious trinkets to pay for a hotel room.
“He stole far more than he would have needed to pay for a hotel room in the town of Melita,” Crown attorney Rich Lonstrup noted in court on Thursday.
On Nov. 28, an employee of the Nifty Nook in Melita arrived at the business to find jewelry missing from the display cases and called RCMP.
The burglar had entered through a window and police found a distinctive footprint near the damaged window. There was also a distinct shoe print left inside the store.
A store employee recalled dealing with a suspicious customer a few days before who had a distinctive birthmark on his face, a description that matched Connell.
Just hours after the burglary was discovered, Connell showed up at the RCMP detachment to talk with police about another matter.
An officer noticed that the pattern on Connell’s shoes matched that of the footprint left at the scene of the break-in and he was arrested. On his arrest, he was found with a silver ring taken from the Nifty Nook.
Police then searched Connell’s hotel room and found plastic bags that held jewelry. More jewelry was found in the drawer of a TV stand and a watch was also found in the night stand.
In total, Connell had stolen about 250 items, including silver and gold. The jewelry included rings, chains, necklaces and pendants.
Connell had no previous criminal record and RCMP released him on conditions, but he got into trouble on Dec. 13 for being in Melita contrary to his release order.
It appears he was released on bail a short time later but breached that order too. He failed to keep the peace by committing theft on March 29 as he stole a bottle of rum and a bottle of a vodka cooler from a Brandon Liquor Mart.
He then stole a bottle of cherry whisky from the same shop on April 26 and stole shoes and a belt from the Brandon Zellers on May 6.
He was ultimately apprehended separately for each theft but released each time by police. He was arrested for the last time on June 13 when he was found in Brandon out past his curfew.
He’s been in custody since.
Originally from Alberta, Connell came to southern Manitoba to work with a welder and pipefitter. He rented a room at the Melita Inn, but lost his job for missing work.
He said he pulled the jewelry burglary to pay for his hotel room and cited depression, alcohol and peer pressure as being factors in his other various crimes.
On Thursday, Judge Shauna Hewitt-Michta gave Connell some credit for pre-sentence custody and sent him to jail for another nine months. He’ll be on probation for a year when he’s released.
» ihitchen@brandonsun.com
Republished from the Brandon Sun print edition July 28, 2012
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A first-time burglar who made off with nearly $20,000 worth of jewelry has been sentenced to jail for that and other thefts.
Dalton Michael Connell, 19, claimed that he stole the precious trinkets to pay for a hotel room.
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A first-time burglar who made off with nearly $20,000 worth of jewelry has been sentenced to jail for that and other thefts.
Dalton Michael Connell, 19, claimed that he stole the precious trinkets to pay for a hotel room.
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