The trial for a former Prince George firefighter alleged to have been part of an extensive theft ring got off to a false start on Wednesday.
Provincial court judge Dan Weatherly declined to hear the case when he learned one of the witnesses is a friend, raising a concern he would be in a conflict of interest.
Another judge will have to be found to hear the matter, causing a delay for a case that began in July 2013 when Crown counsel approved nine charges against Jeremy Matthew Kostyshyn, 33, as a result of a investigation that began in April 2013 when police received a tip about an allegedly stolen jet boat and trailer located on a Bench Drive property.
Subsequent searches of properties on Christopher Drive, north of the city, and on Jutland Road in Prince George led to the recovery of more stolen goods including another jet boat, a skid steer tractor and a mini excavator.
More than $200,000 worth of stolen property was recovered, with some of if from Fort St. John, leading investigators to see it as part of a larger theft ring operating in B.C. and northern Alberta, police said at the time.
The charges against Kostyshyn consist of three counts of possession of stolen property for the purpose of trafficking and six counts of theft over $5,000.
When news of the investigation was first announced in May 2013, the city suspended a firefighter without pay and launched an internal review. The name of the person suspended has not been released.
A second Prince George man, Benjamin Taffy Llywelyn Williams, 38, faces one count of possession of stolen property over $5,000 as a result of the investigation. His trial is set to run over two days in October.
Even before Weatherly decided he was in a conflict, the trial almost went off the rails. Kostyshyn's lawyer, Patrick Fagan, argued the three trafficking charges should be quashed because the specific property and their owners were not included in the charge. The dates for which the offences were alleged to have been committed were too broad, Fagan also argued.
Weatherly declined Fagan's application but requested the charges be amended to include the specific items. Crown counsel did so and, in the process, also included the names of the property's owners in two of the charges.
Weatherly said he recognized one of the names and noted he went to high school with the man and so, excused himself from hearing the trial.
The trial had been set to take up three days.
