Four years in jail for $12

Penticton Herald staff 05/26/2011
A West Kelowna area man has been sentenced to four years in jail for robbing a City of Penticton bylaw officer collecting coins from parking meters last summer. Credence Duncan, 31, was sentenced in Penticton provincial court Wednesday on a single charge of robbery in connection with the Aug, 3, 2010 incident. A city bylaw officer was emptying parking meters along Winnipeg Street, when a man on a bicycle suddenly appeared from a laneway beside the federal Revenue Canada building and crashed into him.  The thief punched the bylaw officer in the face and then ordered him away from his coin-filled cart, which he carried off. A second bylaw officer emptying meters across the street, heard the commotion and contacted police on her portable radio. RCMP arrived at the scene in less than a minute. The thief had only managed to haul the heavy cart few metres and tipped it over in an attempt to get the change, when he heard the sirens and fled on foot.  Duncan was quickly arrested without a struggle.  Crown counsel Catherine Crockett said police recovered about $12 in change strewn about the ground and tossed into the back of a nearby pickup truck.  In passing sentence, Judge Meg Shaw noted the accused has a lengthy criminal record, including three previous robbery convictions. He had been released from jail about two weeks prior to the attack after serving a previous two-year sentence for an unrelated break-and-enter.  Duncan, who has remained in custody since his arrest, was given 267 days‘ credit for time already served. This leaves a further three years and 99 days remaining on his sentence at a federal prison. City manager Annette Antoniak said afterwards although she was not aware of the attack, which occurred before she was hired by the city, protection of employees is always a concern. “We want to make sure when they‘re out doing their duties, that they‘re safe,” Antoniak said.