By Bob Mackin | Prince George Citizen
A Provincial Court judge in Prince George reserved a sentencing decision Aug. 14 in the case of a fired Home Depot employee who pleaded guilty to stealing DeWalt and Milwaukee brand power tools and advertising them at a discount on Facebook Marketplace almost two years ago.
Crown prosecutor Anne Baines told Judge Cassandra Malfair that a loss prevention officer at Home Depot found David Tschritter, 24, stole $14,321.38 “or more” of goods and listed them online under a pseudonym. Tschritter was fired from the job on Sept. 19, 2023 and charged with theft over $5,000 and possession of stolen property over $5,000.
In court, he pleaded guilty to the theft charge.
“That’s only a small portion of what we say Mr. Tschritter stole,” Baines said. “It’s just the only amount that we could prove.”
Baines asked Malfair to send Tschritter to jail for nine to 12 months. If Malfair prefers a conditional sentence in the community instead, then Baines wants 18 months to two years less a day.
“He was able to steal items in a very deceitful way, not just walking out the door, but actually hiding them and transporting them to his vehicle and transporting them home,” Baines said.
Tschritter’s lawyer, Shora Amini, argued for a conditional discharge, which would leave her client without a conviction if he successfully fulfils probation conditions. Amini pointed to Tschritter’s circumstances, lack of criminal record, confession to police and guilty plea.
Amini said he was 22 at the time and had “lost connection to his church and his faith. He felt he was spiralling out of control at the time of the offence.”
Amini said Tschritter’s wife suffered serious complications after the birth of the couple’s second child, putting Tschritter under financial stress. She argued that a conditional discharge is not contrary to the public interest and suggested Malfair put Tschritter on probation with stringent conditions, counselling and lengthy community work service.
“He committed the offence, which was not a minor offence, while in a period of personal and mental turmoil, while struggling to tend to his newborn child and Ill wife,” Amini said. “He was not in the right state of mind.”
Court heard that Tschritter not only admitted to the theft, but consented to the Prince George RCMP search of his residence for the stolen items. He told police that he would put the items in cardboard boxes, take them out of the store and place them in his vehicle. He would take them home at the end of a shift and then advertise them on Facebook Marketplace.
“He does not remember how many items he has sold,” Baines said. “He does not know how many items he stole, and he had some of the stolen items in his apartment.”
At the end of the hearing, Malfair asked Baines and Amini to seek a 30-minute time slot from court schedulers, sometime in mid-September or later, so that she could deliver the verdict.
