One of two brothers has pleaded guilty to theft from a lumberyard but received no jail time while the other was referred to a solution outside the courts.
Alan Kenneth Brooks and Michael Raymond Brooks were both charged with breaking and entering and committing an indictable offence, and possession of stolen property.
The Crown entered a stay of proceedings on the first charge.
Vancouver Provincial Court Judge Elizabeth Burgess heard the brothers had broken into a construction site at 22 West 19th Ave. and taken $1,400 worth of plywood.
Unfortunately for the brothers, police were watching when the men entered the site, loaded the wood into a vehicle and drove away.
In accepting Alan Brooks’ guilty plea, Burgess said, “It was not a good thing to have done. You were apprehended by the police immediately.”
The wood was recovered.
“This was not a particularly sophisticated offence,” Crown prosecutor Spencer Gillespie told Burgess.
“It was dumb,” Alan Brooks said.
He received a conditional discharge and was ordered to do 15 hours of community service.
His brother was referred to "alternative measures," meaning his situation will be handled outside the court process.
The provincial government website said such measures are available to an accused if they accept personal responsibility for their behaviour and agree to make amends.
An accused can also be considered for alternative measures if the charge is a minor one or a first offence.
