Circumstantial evidence convicts man of business break-in

A provincial judge found a man accused of breaking into a Brandon business and stealing dozens of items guilty of all charges.

Javier Tellez-Villamil, 25, was found guilty of breaking and entering committing theft, disguise with intent, mischief to property under $5,000 and breaching his bail order in Brandon provincial court on Wednesday at the end of his single-day trial.

Crown attorney Nikki Boggs called Scott Warren, who is one of the owners of Inland Radiator and Hydraulic Works on Pacific Avenue, to the stand first.

Warren said he got a call from one of his employees at around 7 a.m. on Oct. 3, 2025, informing him that the front window of the business was broken and the “shop was a mess.”

He testified that he went to the business and called the police shortly after. Several items had been stolen, he said.

There were three working security cameras outside the business, he said, one of which was broken during the break-in. He said one of the cameras recorded a suspect breaking one camera and covering another.

Footage of the break-in was played in court and showed a suspect smash through a window and carrying multiple loads of items out of the camera’s view.

When police arrived, Warren said they went to a compound across the street where broken vehicles are stored but left soon after. Warren said he and a couple of his employees went back to the compound to look for his stolen items and came across some of them near a truck.

When he looked into the truck, he said he saw bins that he recognized from his shop.

He called the police again to tell them of his discovery.

“And then I saw an eye looking at me,” he said. “I told dispatch, ‘I see a person in the truck, and he’s looking right at me.’”

He said the person was partially covered and in the passenger seat. When the person uncovered himself, Warren noticed he was wearing a pair of protective ear coverings from the shop, he said.

Warren said he tried to keep the man inside the vehicle by holding the passenger door shut, but he exited through the driver’s-side door and ran away.

“I ran after him,” he said. “I ended up catching him and knocked him over.”

He told one of his employees to call 911 again and ask for police and an ambulance since the man was bleeding from his face.

Warren said police arrived and he saw them arrest the man.

“Following this happening, how did you feel about it?” Boggs asked.

“Violated. Empty … I haven’t slept much since,” he responded.

Defence lawyer Bob Harrison asked if the ear coverings had any identification of Inland Radiators on them. Warren said they didn’t, but they looked like the ones his company used.

Brandon Police Service Const. Fabian Toews also testified and said he was assigned as a general patrol officer on the date of the incident.

Toews said he and his field-training officer responded to the break-in.

Toews spoke with the business owner, who told him multiple items had been stolen, and took several photos, including some of shoe impressions, he testified. One impression was on a piece of white paper, and the other was on a desk, he said.

He also took photos of the shoes of the employees who were on scene to compare them with the impressions, he said.

The officer said police received another call from the business owner, and when he arrived, he saw the accused in the back of a police cruiser and identified him. He said he had a previous interaction with him. He also had an immigration document on him that confirmed his identity.

Police then located “nearly all” of the stolen items near the truck in the compound, including several pieces of clothing that matched the clothing the suspect was wearing in the surveillance footage, Toews said.

When the accused was arrested, Toews said he seized the shoes he was wearing to compare them to the impressions.

“Were you able to ever check to see who owned the truck?” Harrison asked.

Toews said the vehicle was registered under another person’s name, but he couldn’t recall if the registration was valid.

Harrison asked if Toews found any fingerprints inside the business.

“(I) did locate a fingerprint on the inside of the building, but it was too poor quality to use.”

Harrison also asked if the photo of the shoe print and the accused’s shoes were sent to an expert. Toews said they were sent to BPS’s forensic identification unit.

BPS Const. Tyler Nichol was assigned to the forensic identification unit at the time of the break-in and said he went to the scene to take more photos and look for fingerprints. However, he said he couldn’t find any.

He also recreated the impressions using the accused’s shoes that were seized and said the imprints appeared to match.

“Would you be able to tell whether it was a fresh impression?” Harrison asked. Nichol said he couldn’t.

The accused took the stand and denied breaking into the business.

Tellez-Villamil said he was homeless at the time and in a tent overnight. The next morning, while he was on his way to visit a friend, two people randomly attacked him and swore at him before police arrested him, he testified.

He said his human rights were violated.

Tellez-Villamil also denied being in the truck.

In closing arguments, Harrison said he didn’t believe the Crown proved his client’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Harrison said the Crown’s evidence was circumstantial and pointed out that police didn’t know when the shoe impressions were made, there were no fingerprints and there was no clear video footage showing the accused’s face.

“When police arrived on scene, they didn’t find him in the truck,” he said, adding that it was registered to someone else.

The Crown acknowledged the evidence was circumstantial. Boggs said given the volume of items the accused was found with, the court can infer that he was responsible for the break-in.

In addition, the suspect on camera was wearing some of the clothing items depicted in the security footage.

Judge Shauna Hewitt-Michta said she did not believe Tellez-Villamil’s denials and found that Warren was a credible witness who gave straightforward and reliable evidence.

“The accused was found within a short distance of the break and enter within hours …. in possession of nearly all the stolen property, in fact wearing some of it.”

She said the circumstantial evidence is compelling and led to one rational inference, which was that the accused was the person depicted in the video.

Tellez-Villamil will be sentenced at a later date.

» sanderson@brandonsun.com