A thief who took advantage of Christmas Eve to steal jewelry sold by people he met on Facebook Marketplace at gunpoint has been sentenced to five and a half years in prison.
On December 24, Rylan-James Legros found rings that interested him on the online sales platform. He therefore contacted the seller and agreed to meet him in the parking lot of a small shopping center in Châteauguay, on the South Shore of Montreal.
The exchange was to take place between the accused and the seller in the latter’s car, in the middle of the day.
After the 23-year-old tried on the rings for sale, he pulled out a gun and pointed it at the seller, asking if he was “willing to die for jewelry.”
Legros, who has no criminal history, then fled on foot with the rings.
Second flight
The accused, however, returned to the scene a few hours later to repeat the same ploy, but this time to steal a gold chain displayed on Facebook Marketplace.
Once seated in the second victim’s vehicle, Legros attempted to open the car door and flee with the chain.
The salesman then asked him to close the door and show him the money.
“At this point, the accused grabbed the chain, pulled out his revolver, pointed it at the victim and fled on foot,” reads the agreed summary of facts filed last week at the palace. of justice of Salaberry-de-Valleyfield.
During the two thefts, the value of which has not been quantified, Rylan-James Legros was intoxicated by drugs, said Crown prosecutor Me Yohan Boucher-St-Laurent.
Agents from the Châteauguay Police Department only took a few days to track him down. A search took place at his home on December 27, where a firearm was found hidden in a cardboard box in his bedroom.
Legros, who has since been detained, pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery and one count of possession of a loaded prohibited firearm.
He now has five years and one month left to serve.