Joyride in Bobcat nets 9-month sentence
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 31/05/2024 (695 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A Brandon man will spend nine months behind bars after taking a Bobcat vehicle from the Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba for a joyride to the golf course last month.
Robert Bylo pleaded guilty in court on Thursday to theft over $5,000 for taking the Bobcat machine from the Provincial Ex grounds. He also pleaded guilty to mischief for smashing a window at The Town Centre mall and failing to comply with his probation. Both the Crown and defence agreed on a nine-month sentence for the theft.
Crown attorney Ron Toews read the evidence for the charges in court.
In April, police received a report of a theft from the general manager of the Provincial Ex. Sometime between April 5 and the morning of April 6, a Bobcat side-by-side utility vehicle was stolen from the Keystone Centre grounds.
The centre had rented the vehicle and had left it outside, with the keys in it for the rental company to collect it. But when an employee from the rental company had come to pick up the vehicle, it was gone.
Video surveillance obtained by police led investigators to identify Bylo as a suspect. When officers spoke to Bylo, he took responsibility for his actions and told police that he had taken the vehicle to the Wheat City Golf Course.
Police located the vehicle along the railway tracks by the golf course and other than a flat tire, there was no damage to the vehicle.
The keys were missing, however, and Bylo told officers that he had lost them.
“There was perhaps a higher degree of trust being put in the business relationship that Mr. Bylo certainly took advantage of in terms of the crime of opportunity,” Toews said. “To leave a vehicle that valuable in a public place that had the key in it was probably ill-advised, but certainly it doesn’t excuse his behaviour.”
The Crown attorney also described how Bylo had smashed a glass door at The Town Centre in February and was found with a folding knife, despite being on an order to not possess weapons.
Bylo’s defence lawyer, Jordon Hildebrandt, told the court that his client admitted his actions to the police and took responsibility.
Judge Shauna Hewitt-Michta noted Bylo’s “terrible” criminal record and reminded him that he was throwing chunks of his life away sitting in jail.
“All that I’ve heard described today is completely ridiculous — in particular, the little joyride in the Bobcat to the golf course, which is going to cost you nine months of your life,” the judge said.
In total for all of his charges, Bylo will spend a little under a year behind bars.
» gmortfield@brandonsun.com
» X: @geena_mortfield