The subject of a rooftop arrest in October was sentenced Friday to a further 15 months in jail.
Johnny James Boys, 26, was wanted for failing to appear in court on allegations of break and enter and weapons possession from two incidents in June 2019 when RCMP were alerted on Oct. 24, 2019 that he was seen in the London Hotel in the 1400 block of Third Avenue.
Shortly after knocking on the door of a second-floor unit, Boys was seen climbing out the window and onto an adjacent roof. Police followed and found him hiding in a a ventilation shaft on another roof.
For that incident, Boys was sentenced to 30 days in jail on counts of willfully resisting or obstructing a peace officer and mischief $5,000 or under for damaging the roof's vent.
Boys suffered bigger consequences for the first of the two June incidents. He was sentenced to a consecutive term of 18 months, less credit of five months for time in custody prior to sentencing, for possessing a firearm without a licence.
That stemmed from a June 4, 2019 incident when shortly before 8 p.m. RCMP came across a stolen pickup truck with an incorrect licence plate for that type of vehicle and some bikes in the back at a gas station on Fifth Avenue.
It sped away when RCMP turned on their lights and police elected not to pursue it. But about 20 minutes later, police received a report of a suspicious vehicle in the 100 block of Gillette Street. A witness saw a man pull the truck over, throw some items over a fence and then take off.
The witness also took pictures on his cellphone. By shortly before 8:30 p.m., police had found Boys, who "roughly matched" the images on the cellphone riding a bike while carrying two bags and accompanied by a pit bull dog.
Upon seeing police, Boys dropped one of the bags and in it, RCMP found a .22-calibre semiautomatic rifle with its stock removed and a full 10-round magazine inserted into it, although without any bullets in the chamber. Several rounds of ammunition had also been found on the floor of the pickup truck, the court was told.
A baseball bat was also found in the bag, which led to a count of possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose.
Two days later, Boys was released on $2,000 bail, but on June 18 at about 4 a.m. an alarm company alerted police to the discovery of someone inside the compound of a towing company in the 1500 block of Foley Crescent.
Police arrived to find Boys at the site. It appeared he was trying to retrieve some items from the pickup truck. About three weeks later Boys was released on $1,000 bail.
On Friday, he was sentenced to an additional 30 days in jail for trespassing from that incident and the term came on top of the 13 months from the June 4 arrest and the 30 days for the Oct. 24 arrest.
Boys was also sentenced to 18 months probation, issued a 10-year firearms prohibition and assessed $300 in victim surcharges in what was a joint submission from Crown and defence counsels.
Prior to Friday, his only previous offence was driving while prohibited or licence suspended under the Motor Vehicle Act, committed in April 2018. That left court in a puzzle as to how he suddenly appeared on the local crime scene.
"It's a mystery, Mr. Boys, why you're doing this," provincial court judge Shannon Keyes said.
