First brush with law leads to jail time

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This article was published 29/03/2023 (1269 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A man with no criminal record will serve more than a year in jail after he committed a string of odd mischiefs around Brandon.

Allen Moysey-Groat, 29, pleaded guilty on Monday to five different charges, ranging from break and enter to mischief and theft after the Crown and defence settled on a plea-bargain deal.

Run-ins with the law had never been an issue for Moysey-Groat, who has no prior convictions, until two years ago when he was arrested for a series of break-ins.

On March 9, 2021, a man returned to his home in the rural municipality of Oakland to find the glass on the front door to his home smashed. He entered his home and called out to see if anyone was there. Moysey-Groat appeared, holding a baseball bat. Though he was not wielding the bat in a threatening way, Moysey-Groat was wearing some of the homeowner’s clothes. The homeowner was able to keep Moysey-Groat in the home until Blue Hills RCMP arrived and he was charged with break and enter and mischief.

In March 2022, Moysey-Groat was caught on video camera security walking out of Mark’s Work Warehouse without paying for a pair of pants worth $120.

Later that same day, Moysey-Groat spray-painted bright red scribbles on the outside of the Tim Hortons on Victoria Avenue. He left the restaurant, then returned, and was found sleeping on the floor of the restaurant when police arrived.

Later that month, on March 21, an employee at the Bell MTS building on 18th Street arrived at work in the morning to notice personal items missing from her desk, including a stress reliever ball, chips, candy, a chocolate bar and a blanket. Police noticed the back door to the building had a faulty latch, which is how they believe the thief entered the building. Police used security footage from the area to identify Moysey-Groat.

On May 9, police received a report of a break-in to The Town Centre. After gaining entry to the secure building, Moysey-Groat tried to access businesses within the mall and used a computer in one of the units to log into his Facebook profile, which he left open on the screen.

One month later, on June 8, police were alerted to evidence of a break-in to Shoppers Mall from the previous night. Video surveillance once again caught Moysey-Groat, along with a co-accused, in the mall after hours trying to pry open cabinet doors with a screwdriver.

Crown attorney Caroline Lacey told the court that several factors led to the Crown’s decision on the sentence for Moysey-Groat, including that he racked up new charges quickly and the break-and-enter allegations are serious.

“The fact that as these other offences are happening, he’s pending on offences — he had been arrested in relation to these incidents before these other ones happened,” Lacey said.

Moysey-Groat’s defence lawyer, Anthony Dawson, told the court about a period of familial instability in his client’s life, including the death of his father.

“It seemed to result in a lot of turmoil that upended his life that was formerly stable,” Dawson said.

Moysey-Groat, who has been taking anger management programming while in jail — he has been incarcerated for almost 10 months — is originally from Alberta and plans to return to the province once released from jail.

Judge John Combs agreed with the Crown and defence’s agreed-upon sentence of one and a half years in jail, which includes credit for the time he has already spent behind bars waiting to deal with his charges.

“It’s always unusual when we have someone your age, 29 years old, never been in trouble with the law before and then you have a flurry of charges that are significant and serious charges.”

Combs said break and enters cause a great trauma and turmoil to victims. He added he is usually concerned about drugs and alcohol playing a role in these types of offences but noted this was not mentioned as an issue for Moysey-Groat.

“I hear that you’re attributing it to some instability in your life. I hope if that’s the only cause, then stabilizing your life will rectify that,” the judge said.

Moysey-Groat is also subject to a 10-year weapons prohibition, and will be placed on an 18-month probation when he is released. He also received fines for a charge of failing to attend court and for his mischief charges from Mark’s Work Warehouse and Tim Hortons.

» gmortfield@brandonsun.com