Two men accused of numerous break and enters, thefts and mischief all around the Yorkton region between August and November 2015 have entered guilty pleas to some of their charges.
In Yorkton Provincial Court March 16, Samuel Johnson pleaded guilty to 12 counts of break and enter, five counts of theft, two counts of mischief and two counts of trespassing. The Crown adjourned 16 other charges, including one count of theft of a firearm, Those will be spoken to at a future date. Four other charges were withdrawn.
Mackenzie Johnson, meanwhile, pleaded guilty to 12 counts of break and enter, two counts of theft of a firearm and three counts of possession of stolen property.
Many of the break and enters were of area businesses, but some were into private residences, which is indictable by law. The Crown also proceeded by indictment on all other charges because of the breadth of the crime spree.
The maximum penalty for break and enter is life in prison, but for first-time offenders if the charge is of a low end nature (i.e., single incident, low value of property, property recovered), conditional sentences are available to judges. Because of the sheer number of charges in these cases, custodial sentences are almost certain.
The defence, represented by Antar Agil, requested pre-sentence reports for his clients. Judge Patrick Koskie ordered the reports including inquiries into possible restitution for the victims. The Crown also submitted victim impact statements for consideration in the pre-sentence report.
The judge scheduled sentencing hearings for May 27.
A number of other co-accused cannot be named because they were youths at the time of the crimes.
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