Man sentenced to jail for apartment break-in

By Delon Shurtz - Lethbridge Herald on October 27, 2022.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com

A 34-year-old Lethbridge man has been sent to jail for committing several criminal offences, including breaking into an apartment and stealing a motor vehicle.

Just after midnight on Jan. 10 of this year Tyson Thomas Kehoe entered a residence on 8 Street South and stole a woman’s wallet, keys and 2004 Nissan Murano. Police couldn’t find any evidence of forced entry but noted fresh footprints in the snow outside of a window, which matched footprints on the floor inside the apartment. The same footprints led police behind the apartment where the Nissan had been parked before it was stolen.

At about 1:30 a.m. a police officer spotted the vehicle in an alley behind a downtown business. The vehicle took off but was later seen on 9 Avenue South before it sped off again.

Shortly after midnight the following day an officer spotted the vehicle behind an address in the 500 block of 7 Street South. The officer determined the licence plate on the vehicle had also been stolen, and he parked his vehicle behind the Nissan Murano to prevent it from driving away. That didn’t stop Kehoe from trying to back out of the parking spot, however.

Kehoe was arrested and while being searched police found several keys, two of which were stolen from the maintenance office at the apartment complex. The keys were taken from a box that also contained the master key for the woman’s apartment, which tied Kehoe to the break-in to the woman’s apartment. Kehoe had also purchased items with the credit card he found inside the woman’s stolen wallet.

Lethbridge lawyer Justin Dean told court Kehoe had a substance abuse problem, but because he’s been in custody almost continually since Jan. 11, he’s now clean and sober and taking treatment.

Kehoe had originally pleaded not guilty to charges of housebreaking to commit theft, failing to comply with probation, using a stolen credit card and theft of a motor vehicle, and he was set to stand trial. However, he pleaded guilty last week in Lethbridge provincial court and was sentenced to nine months in jail, minus the equivalent of 234 days spent in remand custody, leaving a sentence of 36 days. He will also be allowed to serve his sentence on weekends, beginning Nov. 5.

Kehoe was placed on probation for 12 months, during which he must adhere to several conditions, including he be assessed and take counselling for substance abuse and life skills. He must also abstain from consuming alcohol and drugs, and he was ordered to submit a sample of his DNA for the National DNA Data Bank.

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