A North Vancouver man who looted the downtown London Drugs store, stealing a cellphone on the night of the Stanley Cup hockey riot, has been handed a 45-day jail sentence.
Chase Cooper, 25, is the first North Vancouver rioter to receive an actual jail sentence, after pleading guilty to participating in a riot earlier this year.
Judge Jocelyn Palmer handed down the sentence in Vancouver provincial court on Thursday.
Cooper will serve his jail time on weekends. The hockey riot broke out in downtown Vancouver on the night of June 15, 2011, following the Vancouver Canucks' loss to the Boston Bruins in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals.
According to Crown prosecutors, Cooper hung around the riot for a prolonged period of time, filming other rioters, before taking part in the looting.
Cooper was among the first wave of looters who swarmed into London Drugs at Georgia and Granville streets after rioters smashed the store's front windows, said Crown spokeswoman Samantha Hulme.
Video evidence showed Cooper left the store, but then returned a second time. On his second foray, Cooper stole a cellphone from the store's electronics department.
Cooper turned himself in after the police riot squad posted his picture on their website. He returned the stolen cellphone about six weeks before his sentencing hearing.
But the judge was unimpressed that Cooper had waited so long to return the stolen property.
Palmer rejected the request from Cooper's defence lawyer for a lighter sentence, saying the looting at London Drugs was a major event in the riot that had caused significant distress to store staff, who had to lock themselves in a secure room in the basement to escape the mob.
The judge also rejected a conditional sentence, saying real jail was needed to denounce the looters' actions.
Cooper has a previous criminal conviction for impaired driving in North Vancouver, entered six months before the riot.
In addition to the jail time, Cooper was put on nine months probation and ordered to finish 100 hours of community work service.
Three other North Vancouver rioters - ranging from 19 to 24 in age - have received conditional sentences ranging from two to four months of house arrest.
Another North Vancouver rioter who also pleaded guilty to looting in London Drugs has yet to be sentenced.
