37 guns, seven crime scenes, eight years in prison

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This article was published 20/02/2021 (1856 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winkler man has been sentenced to eight years in prison for his part in a brazen gun store robbery that ended with 37 firearms landing in the hands of Alberta’s criminal underworld.

Brett Kehler, 24, agreed to plead guilty to breaking and entering and weapons trafficking in exchange for the Crown and defence agreeing to jointly recommend the eight-year sentence on Friday.

Kehler’s 21-year-old step-brother, Corbin Seniuk, pleaded guilty to the same charges, but chose to “roll the dice” on sentencing, Crown attorney Mike Desautels told Judge Cindy Sholdice. Seniuk will be sentenced at a later date.

A third accused, Valera Plaksin, received partial immunity in exchange for his co-operation and was previously sentenced to probation. A fourth accused, Gage Fletcher stood trial on the same charges as Kehler and Seniuk and is waiting for a verdict.

Desautels said the four co-accused were meticulous and professional when they planned the break-in at Dominion Outdoors in Winkler in November 2018.

Plaksin and Kehler were responsible for stealing a truck for the break-in, while it was Fletcher’s job to provide a “clean” getaway vehicle, his own Ford Escape.

Plaksin drove the stolen truck through the front window of the gun store, Kehler and Seniuk ran inside, smashed display cases and grabbed “tactical-style” rifles from the walls, Desautels said.

“They weren’t taking deer rifles from the walls,” he said. “They were meticulous in terms of getting everything from the counters… They knew where the guns (they wanted) were and they went for them.”

Ninety seconds later, they were gone. The take: 34 handguns and three rifles.

According to an agreed statement of facts provided to court, Plaksin told police the plot was hatched some time earlier when Plaksin, Seniuk and Fletcher were visiting Fletcher’s mother in Brooks, Alta.

“Plaksin explained that Fletcher’s mother… gave them the idea to break into a gun store and that she had people she could sell the guns to,” says the agreed statement of facts.

The agreed statement of facts says the woman told the men she could get up to $2,000 per gun and agreed to pay them $30,000 up front.

Months later “after the money dried up,” the woman told the men she had a sale lined up for the rest of the guns. When the men returned to the woman’s home looking for payment, she was nowhere to be found.

The investigation into the gun theft remained stalled for five months until a man who had helped the four accused temporarily stash the weapons, upset that he was never paid, went to police.

To date, seven of the weapons have been recovered at Alberta crime scenes, Desautels said.

“Thirty-seven firearms — that’s 37 different opportunities for people to be killed by these guns,” Desautels said. “The danger these firearms pose is a long-lasting one… The entire community is at risk when these firearms are out there.”

Dominion Outdoors had only recently opened at the time of the theft, and was only insured for $2,500, Desautels said.

“This theft had a real impact on this business,” he said.

Kehler received credit for time served, reducing his remaining sentence to just over five years.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca