The Integrated Riot Investigation Team's first batch of charges was announced Wednesday, five-and-a-half months after the June 15 Stanley Cup riot.
All 25 people charged are accused of taking part in a riot, which has a maximum two-year sentence. Fourteen have additional charges of mischief and 12 of break and enter. Three people have been charged with arson and one with assault.
Kristjan Toomas Johanson (a.k.a. Christian Johanson) has the most charges with six. Besides the participating in a riot citation, the 20-year-old Vancouverite faces three counts of mischief and two counts of break and enter. Alexander Keelty Peepre of Vancouver, 20, is the only person accused of assault.
Those charged range from a 17-year-old juvenile, who cannot be identified, to 33year-old Mobeen Mohammed. They are both charged with break and enter and are among the 10 from Surrey expected to make first appearances in court in the coming weeks. Eight of the charged are from Vancouver, two each from Burnaby and Maple Ridge and one each from Delta and North Vancouver. The only person from outofprovince is 21-year-old Jensen Peter White of Seattle, who faces a mischief charge.
Lincoln Ray Kennedy Williams, 21, of Delta (a.k.a. Lincoln Kennedy), Alicia Price, 22, of Surrey and Timothy Tin-Chew Kwong, 30, of Burnaby are charged with arson, which carries a maximum 14-year sentence.
According to a search on Court Services Online, nearly all of the first 25 appear to have no prior criminal record. That suggests plea bargains and lenient sentences are possible. Vancouverite Robert Mitchell Snelgrove, 25, who is also charged with break and enter, is scheduled to go on trial in Vancouver Provincial Court on Jan. 17, 2012 on an unrelated assault with a weapon charge from Sept. 11, 2011. The file is linked to his previous name, Robert Michel Snelgrove.
On Oct. 31, police recommended that Crown counsel make 163 charges against 60 people. IRIT claims there will be more charges recommended and that each report to Crown counsel is more than 500 pages.
The first riot case processed by the courts involved Karanvir Singh Saran, 18, who received an absolute discharge Nov. 2 in Surrey Provincial Court for possessing stolen swimwear.
Joshua Lyle Evans, 27, of Calgary was wrongly accused with possessing a weapon. Witnesses claimed he actually disarmed a knife-wielding man. Aggravated assault charges against Edgar Ricardo Garcia, 20, of Burnaby were also stayed.
