Two brothers charged with a timber theft in Vancouver have taken responsibility for their actions, one received a conditional discharge and community service, while the other will be tried outside the courts.
One of the two brothers has pleaded guilty to theft from a lumber yard but received no jail sentence while the other was referred to a solution out of court.
Alan Kenneth Brooks and Michael Raymond Brooks were both charged with burglary and burglary and for committing a criminal offense and possession of stolen property.
The Crown adjourned the case 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 plywood worth $ 1,400.
Unfortunately for the brothers, the police kept an eye on when the men entered the scene, loaded the tree into a vehicle and drove away.
When Burgess accepted Alan Brooks’ guilty plea, Burgess said: “It was not a good thing to have done. You were immediately apprehended by the police.”
The tree was recovered.
“This was not a particularly sophisticated offense,” Crown prosecutor Spencer Gillespie told Burgess.
“It was stupid,” Alan Brooks said.
He received a conditional discharge and was imposed with 15 hours of community service.
His brother was referred to “alternative measures”, meaning his situation will be handled outside of court.
The provincial government’s website said such measures are available to an accused if they accept personal responsibility for their behavior and agree to make amends.
An accused may also be considered for alternative measures if the charge is a minor or a first offense.