A 52-year-old Surrey man hit a negative terminal recently when he was handed a two-month conditional sentence for boosting truck batteries in North Vancouver and Surrey.
William Taylor Burgess was sentenced in North Vancouver provincial court April 25 for two counts of stealing batteries from parked trucks last summer.
Burgess galvanized more negative energy when his 2005 GMC Canyon truck – used to pilfer possibly up to 70 vehicle batteries – was forfeited to the Crown via the province’s administrative forfeiture program.
An investigation into the purloined vehicle parts started in August, when dozens of truck drivers in the Lynnmour area tried to start their rigs only to find batteries were not included.
Almost 50 vehicle batteries went missing, according to police. North Vancouver RCMP later learned that cars and trucks in Burnaby, Surrey and Richmond were being drained of their batteries too, said Sgt. Peter DeVries, spokesman for the North Vancouver RCMP.
During one of the thefts in North Vancouver, a worker who was sleeping in the company truck while it was parked overnight at a local business got a rude awakening when Burgess attempted to boost the battery.
“He woke up when he heard banging noises and when he went out to see what it was, the suspect took off with a number of batteries in the back of his truck,” said DeVries.
After sharing information that included photos and video footage from business surveillance cameras, police were able to identify Burgess. While under police surveillance, he was caught in the act of stealing vehicle batteries. A search warrant later executed at his home turned up batteries and other property.
Burgess eventually pled guilty to stealing a truck battery from North Vancouver’s Ellis Moving and Storage Ltd. on Aug. 20, 2018 and for boosting a battery from All City Kitchen & Bath in Surrey on Sept. 7, 2018. Among the conditions of his conditional sentence order, Burgess is subject to a curfew between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m.
Under conditions of both the conditional sentence order and a one-year probation order, Burgess is forbidden from going near four businesses on Columbia and Bay streets in the Lynnmour area of North Vancouver, as well as two business addresses in Surrey. Burgess was also ordered not to touch any truck with an enclosed cargo space unless the owner the truck is present.
The province will eventually sell the GMC truck in a BC Auction.
