A second person has been jailed in connection with a break-and-enter at a Penticton retirement home.
Chandeep Singh Rai, 35, pleaded guilty to break-and-enter, plus three probation breaches, and was sentenced Monday in provincial court in Penticton to seven months in jail with credit for 123 days’ time served.
Once released, he’ll be on probation for one year and not permitted to go within 100 metres of Athens Creek.
He was one of three people caught on surveillance video breaking into a workshop at the Athens Creek Retirement Lodge on Nov. 11, 2014, and leaving with power tools.
Court heard Rai, who has a lengthy criminal record, suffers from the effects of a brain injury and is addicted to drugs.
Judge Greg Koturbash said those factors “may have played a role in the impulsivity” Rai demonstrated with the break-in and breaches.
The judge also noted the residents of Athens Creek are “vulnerable, and I think it’s fortunate nobody was up” at the time of the break-in.
Rai told the court he’s been accepted to attend a residential treatment facility in the Lower Mainland to deal with his addictions.
“I just want to better my life now,” he said.
“I need to make these changes before it’s too late.”
Kelly Nicole McGinn, 25, was sentenced in December to 45 days in jail for the same break-and-enter at Athens Creek.
The third man seen on the surveillance video with McGinn and Rai was not charged.
