A serial identity thief and fraudster has been sentenced to jail time already served and banned for a year from businesses he ripped off in Burnaby, New Westminster, Vancouver and North Vancouver.
Petr Pouska, 54, pleaded guilty last week to fraud, identity theft, carrying brass knuckles and trying to obstruct a police officer by pretending to be somebody else.
The fraud charges relate to scams between August 2018 and May 2019 at TD Bank, Scotiabank, Long & McQuade and Key West Ford, according to facts presented at a sentencing hearing in Vancouver provincial court Wednesday (May 12).
Pouska’s MO was to “relieve these various stores of money or merchandise” by presenting forged photo ID with his picture but someone else’s name on it, as well as secondary documents with the other person’s name, according to Crown prosecutor Jonas Dow.
Dow said Pouska relieved Key West Ford in New Westminster of an $18,000 vehicle and Long & McQuade of $12,000 worth of electronics and musical instruments.
He also tried to scam TD Bank out of $1,800, according to Dow.
But Pouska’s dealings eventually caught up with him, thanks to wanted posters put out by police.
“The victims here had collected copies of the various items utilized to affect the fraud, which would show Mr. Pouska’s face and would show how the fraud was committed,” Dow said.
This isn’t Pouska’s first or even most serious conviction for fraud and identity theft, according to Dow.
“He’s amassed fairly significant jail time for some of these offences,” Dow said. “His record is rare in that he’s an identity thief who’s garnered federal sentences, and I know in my experience doing a lot of these types of files there aren’t very many individuals in that category.”
And, while Pouska was out on bail in December on the most recent charges, he was pulled over in Coquitlam and found once again with identity documents that weren’t his as well as a set of brass knuckles, according to Dow.
“It seemed like he was sort of a bit at it again although there was no fresh fraud-style charges to be had,” Dow said.
After pleading guilty to a number of charges, Pouska was released again in January with an ankle monitor and a strict curfew, and he appears to have behaved himself ever since, according to Dow.
In a joint submission, Dow and defence lawyer Leo Fumano called for Pouska to be sentenced to time served and a year of probation.
They noted Pouska had already served 204 days in jail for the incidents, much of it during the COVID-19 pandemic, and should be credited for 306 days.
“Overall, there appears to be a generalized decline in criminal behaviour, so I think we can be satisfied with the time that Mr. Pouska has been in custody,” Dow said. “It bears noting that these fraud-style files and the number of offences that were alleged would utilize a significant amount of court time, and his early pleas on these and his concession is a significant mitigating circumstance.”
Fumano said Pouska, who has training in computers but abused crystal meth for years, is “tired of all of this” and just wants to get a job in information technology.
B.C. provincial court Judge James Wingham said it would be a good thing if Pouska was tired of his life of crime.
“You need to turn things around and use some of your talent, because apparently you have some, to be a productive member of society instead of somebody who’s feeding off other people in society, which is basically what you’ve been doing,” Wingham said.
He sentenced Pouska to time served and a year of probation during which he is banned from possessing documents not in his own name and from attending TD Bank, Scotiabank, Long & McQuade and Key West Ford.
Follow Cornelia Naylor on Twitter @CorNaylor
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