Court

Repeat sex offender sent back to jail

PENTICTON - A Keremeos man and repeat sex offender will spend five years in jail after pleading guilty to sexually touching a minor. Helge E. Wilson, 61, pleaded guilty to charges of sexual interference and invitation to sexual touching by a minor after a series of incidents that took place between April and May 2013....

Repeat sex offender sent back to jail

PENTICTON - A Keremeos man and repeat sex offender will spend five years in jail after pleading guilty to sexually touching a minor. Helge E. Wilson, 61, pleaded guilty to charges of sexual interference and invitation to sexual touching by a minor after a series of incidents that took place between April and May 2013....

Former teacher pays price for theft

PENTICTON - A former Osoyoos school teacher got a conditional sentence after embezzling $42,000 from the Osoyoos Rural Fire Protection District, the organization for which he was a volunteer secretary treasurer. Michael R. McWhinnie, born in 1946, appeared in Penticton Provincial Court Monday where he was sentenced by Judge Gregory Koturbash to a 12-month conditional...

Gaglardi sentencing to take place this December

KAMLOOPS - Dallas Stars Owner Tom Gaglardi and his company Northland Properties Corporation will be back in Kamloops Provincial Court this December for sentencing. Earlier this year, Judge Stephen Harrison found Gaglardi guilty of harmfully altering a fish habitat. The alterations were part of various renovations and landscaping projects on the Gaglardi family’s lakeside vacation...

Oregon man sent to Kamloops prison for child porn

PENTICTON -  An Oregon man has been added to the sex offender list after he was sentenced today in Penticton for possession of child pornography. Sidney B. Van Valkenburgh, 49, was arrested at the Osoyoos border on Jan. 9, 2014 while driving a commercial truck north to distribute roofing products in Osoyoos. Border officers found...

Keremeos sex offender to be sentenced in December

PENTICTON - Sexual offender Roy Charles O’Donaghey should learn his fate this December... if he shows up, that is. O’Donaghey was scheduled to be sentenced October 8, 2014 but didn’t show. A warrant was issued for his arrest and he turned himself in to RCMP in Chilliwack a few days later. Instead of keeping him...

Unsatisfied customer ends up in court after making false allegations

KAMLOOPS – A disgruntled yacht-owner will have to pay $40,000 to the business that sold him the boat after he made false allegations about the business’s sales manager. Robert Turpin, of 100 Mile House, paid $1,160,000 to purchase a used 64-foot yacht from Ocean Alexander Marine Yacht Sales, a business based near Seattle, but when...

Two panhandlers get off with community service

PENTICTON - Two Penticton men charged for panhandling were each sentenced to an absolute discharge after completing community service. Jordan B. Ricketts and Erwin A. Sedlmeier were both charged with one count of soliciting a person in a vehicle after panhandling at an intersection in Penticton earlier this year. Both men completed 15 hours of...

Keremeos sex offender turns himself in to police

PENTICTON - There is no longer a warrant out for the arrest a Keremeos sex offender who turned himself in to police in Chilliwack, Thursday. Roy Charles O’Donaghey never showed up to his sentencing Wednesday in Penticton Provincial Court, resulting in a warrant being issued for his arrest. His court case has been scheduled for...

RCMP arrest four suspects for drug trafficking and production

SOUTH OKANAGAN - Four people were arrested last week after RCMP found weapons and a significant amount of drugs during a search warrant at an Oliver residence. On October 2, the South Okanagan RCMP Regional Drug Section, Oliver RCMP Penticton Police Dog Service and South Okanagan Traffic Services executed a search warrant at a residence...

Penticton man keeps long-term offender status, appeal denied

PENTICTON - Wilfred Charles Baptiste will keep his criminal designation as a long-term offender after his appeal to have the designation removed was dismissed. Baptiste did not think he fit the long-term offender criteria and appealed to have the designation removed. The appeal was dismissed by Justice Wilcock in Penticton Supreme Court on Sept. 23,...

Surrey man lands himself a year in jail for drug trafficking

PENTICTON - A Surrey man found guilty of drug trafficking will spend the next year in jail. Graham V. Jordan, 50, was found guilty of drug trafficking charges laid against him after his arrest in November 2011 in Keremeos. Justice Selwyn Romilly sentenced Jordan to one year in prison on Monday in Penticton Supreme Court. Jordan...

Warrant issued for arrest of alleged sex offender

PENTICTON - A warrant has been issued for the arrest of a Keremeos man who failed to attend his sentencing at the Penticton courthouse Wednesday afternoon. Roy Charles O’Donaghey faces two charges of exposing genitals to a minor, to which he previously pleaded not guilty. The charges stem from two incidents during the summer of...

Vernon man expected to plead guilty to luring, child porn charges

VERNON - A Vernon man was scheduled to enter intended guilty pleas Monday in Vernon Supreme Court on various child pornography related charges, but that won’t happen for another few weeks. David Clayton Willerth, born in 1974, faces 25 counts, including luring children under 16 over the computer, making or publishing child pornography and invitation...