Man involved in plaque thefts gets eight months
A local scrap metal company helped put the pieces together in solving the 2017 theft of a number of military memorial plaques from the Griesbach community, court heard Tuesday.
Romelo Joseph Woolf admitted Tuesday that he was paid to sell 16 stolen plaques memorializing famous regiments, battles, veterans, military nurses and Victoria Cross winners to a scrap metal yard.
Woolf, 46, was sentenced to eight months for offences related to the sale of the plaques, and will serve another 30 days for an unrelated bicycle theft, less 83 days credit for time spent in pre-trial custody.
A one-time military garrison, Canada Lands Corp. developed the area into the Griesbach neighbourhood in recent years. The plaques offered explanations for names of streets and landmarks with military-inspired names.
According to an agreed statement of facts entered by Crown prosecutor Stephanie Brown, the plaques were pried from their stands around the neighbourhood overnight in late July 2017.
The next day, a truck carrying about 170 kilograms of brass metal arrived at General Scrap Iron & Metal in northwest Edmonton. Woolf, another man and a woman got out, and Woolf gave his identification to the company, which purchased the broken plaques for about $525.
The 16 plaques made of a metal alloy that looked bronze were “irreparably damaged.”
Three other missing plaques were found in a nearby alley.
When the scrap metal business owners saw media coverage about the theft, they realized what they had and contacted police. The plaques weren’t salvageable, although they were replaced at a cost of about $25,000, with most of the expense shouldered by the City of Edmonton.
Defence lawyer Sonia Haer said her client didn’t participate in the theft itself — he gave his identification to the scrap metal company as the seller of the damaged plaques after being offered a portion of the profits by another person.
Haer said Woolf was dealing with homelessness at the time and needed money for food. He didn’t even know the plaques had been stolen until the ensuing media attention.
Restitution orders were granted to the City of Edmonton and the scrap metal company amounting to more than $20,000, although court heard it was unlikely Woolf would be able to make restitution.