Virden man gets one year for stealing truck, mischief

A Virden man who stole a pickup truck and was later found passed out at the wheel in the middle of an intersection was sentenced to more than one year behind bars in Brandon provincial court on Tuesday.

Tyson Kowal, 27, pleaded guilty to theft of a motor vehicle, mischief and failing to comply with a release order.

On March 23, 2024, a man called Virden RCMP and reported that a 1998 Chevrolet pickup had been stolen from his trucking company in Virden at around 3 a.m.

Security footage from the business showed a man, who police later identified as Kowal, walk up to the truck, open the driver’s side door and drive away, Crown attorney Sarah Kok said.

Kowal was carrying “break-in instruments,” including a hammer, a prybar and a screwdriver, but didn’t use them, as the truck appeared to be unlocked, court heard.

Kok said Kowal was serving a conditional sentence at the time after being convicted of related offences.

Police didn’t find the vehicle but received an update from another officer regarding a different incident that took place at another business in Virden at around 4:50 a.m., when a man, who was driving a truck, used a hammer to smash the window of another vehicle.

Through surveillance footage, police identified Kowal and the truck that had been stolen earlier.

Mounties added the vehicle to the Canadian Police Information Centre database, noting it had been stolen, and “almost immediately” were contacted by Brandon RCMP, Kok said.

Brandon RCMP said emergency medical services and police were sent to assist with “a suspected impaired driver who they had located passed out at the wheel at an intersection” in Souris, the Crown said.

Kok said it took several knocks on the driver’s window to rouse him, and EMS immediately took him to a hospital in Brandon. Once awake, he identified himself as Kowal.

“He was extremely concerned about the fact that police were going to attend to the scene,” Kok said, adding that he told emergency medical services that he was under house arrest and provided a statement “indicating that he had stolen the truck.”

Hospital staff observed Kowal start smoking what they believed to be methamphetamine or fentanyl inside the hospital, and they took the substance away from him, Kok said.

Officers waited for Kowal at the hospital for more than an hour before they were sent to a high-priority call. They left their contact information with staff and said to contact them immediately when Kowal was discharged, as they needed to arrest him.

“That never happened,” Kok said. “It appears Mr. Kowal was either discharged or discharged himself against medical advice and police weren’t able to locate him.”

RCMP issued a warrant for Kowal’s arrest, which was executed six days later when officers found him at his residence. Kowal was held in custody until the Crown consented to his release.

Kowal was also accepted into drug treatment court, which Kok said meant Kowal had to follow several sets of conditions — bail conditions, drug treatment court conditions and house arrest.

Police conducted curfew checks on Kowal in November and December, but he was not there, prompting police to again issue a warrant for his arrest. Months later, on Aug. 18, 2025, police arrested Kowal while executing a drug-related search at a residence.

Kok asked the court to consider a total sentence of 13 months — eight for the theft of a motor vehicle, four for the mischief and 30 days for the curfew breaches — followed by 18 months of unsupervised probation.

Eight months is relatively low for the theft charge, Kok said, but it considered his reduced moral culpability, as drug addiction has significantly impacted his life.

Defence lawyer Myles Davis asked for a time-served sentence, which is the equivalent of 192 days, as Kowal is pending other charges and wants to apply for bail and be released directly into a treatment program, which he has been accepted into.

Davis said there was a significant amount of alcohol use in his home during his childhood, and because of this, he started drinking at 16 years old.

“He tells me that the alcohol use increased relatively quickly to the point where, while he was still in school, he was drinking up to 66 ounces of alcohol per day,” Davis said.

By 18, Kowal had started injecting methamphetamine, essentially treating one addiction with another, the lawyer added.

This transformed into a fentanyl addiction, court heard.

“So, a combination of both methamphetamine and fentanyl, for what I would describe to the court as extreme addiction issues for Mr. Kowal, intoxicated essentially all the time.”

The reason his client wasn’t home for the curfew checks, he said, was because he moved to Chilliwack, B.C., for roughly six months, working in construction and maintaining “some form of sobriety.”

“Essentially, I am asking the court for an opportunity to engage in rehabilitation.”

Kowal told the court he had never talked to anyone about his addiction and thought he could handle it himself, but now he realizes he needs help and is looking forward to getting it.

“I need the help,” he said. “I’m still young … I’m capable of doing a lot more with my life.”

Associate Chief Judge Geoffrey Bayly said a time-served sentence was not appropriate for the circumstances and that he struggled with the leniency of the Crown’s sentence as well, but wouldn’t go above it.

Bayly said an overall 12-month sentence for the theft and mischief was appropriate, but instead of portioning it in the manner the Crown suggested, he sentenced him to 12 months for each charge to be served concurrently.

He encouraged Kowal to throw himself into programming for the remainder of his time in custody, since it will only help him in the future.

» sanderson@brandonsun.com