Okanagan bicycle thief got bail several times during crime spree

An Okanagan bicycle thief who “took off into the sunset” with a bike he was test-riding after responding to a post on Facebook Marketplace will spend more time behind bars having been sentenced for a crime spree that stretched from Salmon Arm to West Kelowna.

Bicycle thief Vida-Blue Jack wanted to be released with an ankle monitor, but BC Provincial Court Judge Michelle Daneliuk dismissed the request, pointing out to the 29-year-old that he was facing more jail time.

The judge’s sentence came after Jack appeared in court, April 17, facing 24 charges for offences ranging from domestic abuse and carrying bear spray, to bicycle theft and shoplifting. The charges stemmed from May 2024 to March, but each time Jack was arrested, after a stint inside, he was released on bail.

The 29-year-old’s first charge came from an incident where he was pulled over in Vernon for driving without a licence. He had an indefinite prohibition from driving and had his vehicle impounded.

A few months later, he was found driving again, this time in Salmon Arm with children in the vehicle. 

“His vehicle was not impounded during this instance as the police officer did not wish to leave the family out in the heat,” Crown prosecutor Erin Miller told the court.

A few months after that, Jack was in West Kelowna when a police officer spotted him carrying a stack of clothing from Value Village, all of which was still on hangers. Police thought he may have been shoplifting and pulled him over. He was again charged with driving while prohibited and had his car impounded. Whether the clothing was stolen or not wasn’t mentioned.

A couple of days later, Jack was at the Safeway Liquor Store in Kelowna and headed to the till with a 12-pack of Twisted Tea. He pretended to pay by tapping his card on the machine and left, even though it didn’t work.

He ignored staff who followed him outside and told him he hadn’t paid.

Two days later, he tried the same trick again at a Petro-Canada on Harvey Avenue. While the clerk moved his bag of items away from him when his tap didn’t work, he reached over, grabbed the bag and ran. The value of the theft was $61.

Less than two weeks later, he went to Urban Liquor on Gordon and presented the clerk with a 12-pack of Twisted Tea. When his card didn’t work, he fled.

It was a month later, in October 2024 when he went around to a woman’s house to look at a bicycle he’d found advertised on Facebook Marketplace.

“Mr. Jack took the bike out for a test drive, and then he never returned it,” the Crown said.

He later told the bike’s owner he’d been in an accident before blocking them on Facebook.

“This is a private individual who put their bicycle up for sale. You took off into the sunset,” the Judge said.

Police conducted a photo lineup, and Jack was identified as the bike thief.

Two months later, he was arrested after a bystander reported a man assaulting a woman on Gordon Drive in Kelowna.

The bystander saw Jack on top of a woman at the back of a dumpster and the woman was screaming at the top of her lungs.

“She heard a male saying, ‘You need to stop, stop moving, stop moving,’” the Crown said. “She observed both individuals jump up and saw that the woman’s jacket was completely off, and she appeared dishevelled.”

The woman was Jack’s girlfriend and the two began yelling at each other. 

He grabbed her and threw her against a fence, and she fell to the ground.

Police turned up and arrested him.

A BB gun and a knife were found nearby, although Jack wasn’t charged in relation to the weapons.

He got bail the next day under the condition that he stay away from the woman.

However, a few weeks later, he was found arguing with her on the side of the road in West Kelowna. He was arrested for breaching his release order.

It’s not clear how long he was behind before getting bail, but by May 2025, he was back stealing bicycles.

After buying items at a Vernon store, Jack swiped a $2,500 bicycle that was left outside. He was already riding a $3,000 bike, which had been reported as being stolen from West Kelowna. He managed to cycle off holding the other bike. Bystanders tried to stop him, but he got away.

CCTV footage from the store identified him.

A few weeks later, police spotted Jack with another stolen bike and arrested him. He had a knife and bear spray on him.

It’s unclear how long Jack was in jail before he was once again released on bail, but in February, he was back at it.

In Vernon at Walmart, he loaded up his shopping cart with $1,000 worth of stuff. He did his trick of pretending to pay before fleeing with the goods. 

His brazen theft had put him on the radar, but he still returned a week later. The store called the police and he was arrested nearby.

While Jack was homeless and struggling with addictions, he got bail again and carried on.

In March, he stole $80 worth of groceries from Safeway. He was arrested sometime afterwards.

“The offences… demonstrate a pattern of offending that was only interrupted by his detention in March of 2026,” the Crown told the court.

The Crown highlighted that Jack had been caught with three high-end stolen bicycles.

“These offences impact everyday civilians and not large corporations,” she said. “And again, this is a recurring crime in Kelowna.”

The court heard that Jack was a member of the West Bank First Nation, and his father and his grandparents were both residential school survivors.

He had a challenging childhood with a lot of trauma, his lawyer Michael Stephenson said.

During his crime spree, Jack had been homeless and was struggling with substance use. He has since gotten sober and made good inroads in jail.

Stephenson argued Jack should serve a sentence of time already served behind bars, while the Crown wanted just shy of four months in jail.

“My eyes… really opened in here,” Jack told the court. “I’ve seen the way the guys are and stuff like that in here and that’s just not me. I don’t want to have my family be ashamed anymore…. I want to make them proud.”

Jack told the court he was “disgusted” with himself and with what drugs had brought him to do.

Ultimately, Judge Daneliuk sentenced Jack to spend another two months in jail.