Faced with a string of break-ins at high-end homes under construction in Burnaby and other Lower Mainland cities in late 2022 and early 2023, it didn't take long for police to recognize a modus operandi, according to details presented in court last month.
Video footage from many of the construction sites captured a lone thief breaking into the unfinished homes at night and making off with fridges, stoves, toilets, flooring, lighting and more.
What gave him away in the end was a rental vehicle he used during one of the jobs.
That vehicle led police to properties in Abbotsford and Boswell, B.C. where they found shipping containers stacked floor to ceiling with stolen goods.
Chad Russell Hubick, 44, owned the Boswell property and shipping container and had rented the property and shipping container in Abbotsford.
He was in Surrey provincial court on Aug. 14 for sentencing after pleading guilty to three counts of breaking and entering and four counts of possessing stolen property.
He originally faced 27 charges, including seven counts of breaking and entering, 19 counts of possessing stolen property and one count of possession for the purpose of trafficking.
Crown prosecutor Ryan Elias told the court the charges Hubick had pleaded guilty to were a "representative sample."
Both Elias and defence lawyer Zack Myers called for a total two-and-a-half-year prison sentence in the case.
They said the sentence should start after Hubick finishes a four-year prison term he is already serving for dealing fentanyl on Vancouver's Downtown East Side while living in a downtown Howe Street boutique hotel and driving a Lexus.
Elias said Hubick's criminal record reflected "an almost unbroken string of convictions" for drug and property crimes, including convictions in 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2020 for break-ins at construction sites.
But Elias noted there had been no convictions for violent offences, and he acknowledged Hubick's guilty plea would save significant court resources.
"This would have been at least a five-week trial if Crown had to prove each and every incident," he said.
Myers noted Hubick has taken advantage of programs during his time in prison and said the sentence proposed was the result of "in-depth discussion" with the Crown.
Hubick addressed the court before being sentenced.
"I just want to apologize for all that I've done and the time that I've wasted with the courts," he said.
B.C. provincial court Judge Rita Bowry agreed the sentence was appropriate in the circumstances.
"Hopefully upon release he will become a productive member of society," she said. "The time in jail will definitely deter him, I hope, this time around not to commit these kinds of offences."
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