A Prince George firefighter testified his former colleague helped connect him to sellers of what the Crown says is stolen equipment.
Kevin Woodhouse told the B.C. Supreme Court Tuesday how Jeremy Matthew Kostyshyn helped him buy a skid steer, a mini excavator and their trailers. Kostyshyn, 34, is on trial facing five counts of trafficking and four counts of possession of stolen property over $5,000.
Kostyshyn's arrest on May 2, 2013 was the culmination of events the day before, when officers caught former firefighter Benjamin Taffy Williams fleeing his residence with a stolen boat after RCMP told Williams he was a suspect. Williams has since been convicted of possession of stolen property over $5,000.
Williams' arrest led police to question Woodhouse, who cooperated with their request to search his property and the seizure of several pieces of stolen equipment. That gave police enough to execute a search warrant for Kostyshyn's home and property. Officers arrested Kostyshyn at the firehall while others searched his home.
Woodhouse told the court he "never bought anything" from Kostyshyn but when pressed by Crown prosecutor Marie Louise Ahrens, he clarified the accused helped broker the purchases.
"My transactions with Jeremy were either by hearsay - as in 'Jeez did you see that great deal on a Harley somewhere' and I would go check it out," said Woodhouse, who has been a firefighter for over 20 years.
"The skidsteer and the excavator in question, Jeremy brokered the deal as opposed to I went over to Jeremy's house and bought something off Jeremy."
Woodhouse described Kostyshyn as a junior firefighter and an acquaintance, someone he'd be on shift with a couple times a month.
One day in spring 2010, Woodhouse was at a firehall coffee table talking to colleagues about doing landscaping work with a rental skid steer - at a cost of about $150 a day.
Kostyshyn joined in and said he knew of a friend who might want to sell the equipment.
Woodhouse went with Kostyshyn to view the skid steer and they later agreed on a price over Woodhouse's $15,000 offer but less than the initial $20,000 asking price.
That friend, with Kostyshyn, delivered the skid steer to Woodhouse's property.
Woodhouse couldn't remember who he handed the envelope of cash to.
"I've struggled with this question throughout the statements," said Woodhouse, who has yet to face cross examination.
"Logic would say I would have paid the gentlemen I was buying the equipment off of," said Woodhouse - a detail defence lawyer Patrick Fagan highlighted.
Several years passed and sometime in 2012, Woodhouse was again speaking in the firehall about his equipment needs. This time, a mini excavator.
Months later Woodhouse said Kostyshyn came up to him and said he knew of a friend selling one.
Woodhouse went to Kostyshyn's house where the equipment was parked.
The two looked it over and Woodhouse balked at the $10,000 asking price.
"It was very beaten up," said Woodhouse, who offered $7,000.
Kostyshyn confirmed the price with the friend, a different man than the previous sale, and the two delivered the mini excavator to Woodhouse.
In both cases Woodhouse paid cash "for tax implications" and didn't request or receive registration papers or a bill of sale.
Ahrens spent the morning with the Crown's first witness, RCMP Corp. Jamie Baker, establishing the property found on the Williams, Woodhouse and Kostyshyn homes in early May 2013 was stolen.
Baker testified the vehicle identification number (VIN) had been scratched off the all-terrain vehicle, two snowmobiles and jetboat at Kostyshyn's home.
The boat had been painted over, but still had several key markings that matched its owner's description.
Police also found a trail cam mounted on a tree at Kostyshyn's home. From the 1,800 images, the Crown pulled at least 12 that showed images of Kostyshyn riding the vehicles, Baker testified.
Police couldn't find owners of two, though one was filed as stolen in the Prince George crime database, so Fagan argued police couldn't know they were stolen.
"If it was reported stolen, I have to believe it was stolen," Baker replied.
Fagan tried to raise reasonable doubt that the snowmobiles had VIN numbers to begin with, since Baker couldn't say when they were manufactured.
"It's in my opinion that there was a VIN plate or sticker there at one point in time. It has been removed by mechanical means," Baker said.
"But you can't state with certainty under oath here today that there was a plate there at that location on the (snowmobile)," Fagan said.
"No, just my experience," Baker replied.
Fagan also questioned the severity of the charges with Baker on the stand, who agreed neither snowmobile was worth $5,000.
Possession of stolen property over $5,000 is a more serious charge.
After Monday's arguments were tied up in a charter application by Fagan, Justice Ronald Tindale said he would rule at the end of the trial whether Kostyshyn's right to a speedy trial was violated.
