Skip to content

Blowtorch used in Richmond mailbox theft, court hears

Johnny Warren Leahy Page, 21, will pay Canada Post $127 for damage to a mailbox.
canadapostmailbox
A thief used a blowtorch to get into a Richmond mailbox in October 2023.

A B.C. man has been given an 18-month conditional discharge after pleading guilty to mischief and theft from mail in an incident where a blowtorch was used to get into a Canada Post mailbox.

Johnny Warren Leahy Page, 21, pleaded guilty to those charges as well a Vancouver charge of dealing with identity documents without lawful excuse when he appeared before Vancouver Provincial Court Judge Patricia Bond on Sept. 12.

Crown prosecutor Miguel Oreta told Bond the damage to the mailbox in the 9800-block of Granville Avenue in Richmond occurred in October 2023. The theft was from the same location.

The court heard police found two men in a vehicle near the scene and found stolen mail and fake B.C. driver's licences. Tools found in the vehicle included a blowtorch.

On May 5, police arrested Leahy Page in Vancouver and found numerous fake driver's licences as well as federal government cheques not in his name.

Leahy Page had originally been charged with theft from mail, wilfully resisting or obstructing a peace officer, possessing a forged document with intent to commit an offence and identity theft in connection with Richmond incidents.

Leahy Page was also charged with a Vancouver offence of theft under $5,000.

Leahy Page had no criminal record.

He must pay Canada Post restitution of $127, perform 55 hours of community work service and have no contact with his co-accused Cameron James Zbigniew Katulski against whom charges were stayed in July.

The charges to which Leahy Page did not plead to were stayed.