B.C. high court says former special constable did the crime, must serve the time

VANCOUVER – An RCMP special constable in Burnaby, B.C., has lost his appeal of a 14-month sentence for stealing drugs from the Mounties’ exhibit locker.

Gary Read was in charge of exhibits for the Burnaby detachment until 2011 when he was charged with the theft of about one kilogram of cocaine.

He was convicted last February and handed a 14-month jail term, after provincial court Judge Paul Meyers rejected a request for a sentence that would have allowed Read to serve his time in the community.

Read appealed, citing several errors by Meyers.

But in a unanimous ruling, three B.C. Court of Appeal justices have sided with their lower-court colleague.

The ruling says a conditional sentence would not have reflected deterrence or denunciation and the decision notes that even if the trial judge had made errors in principle, Read failed to show how the 14-month term was unfit.