Three-year sentence for arson, sex shop theft, other charges
A St. John’s man who set fire to his residence and stole from a local sex shop before sending photos of himself with the stolen item to the shop owner was sentenced to more than three years in prison for these and other crimes Friday.
Judge Colin Flynn sentenced Daniel Peter Humby, 21, to three years behind bars for an eclectic and unusual collection of charges earned between June and August of last year, including arson, multiple thefts, indecent exposure, failing to attend court and failing to show up at police headquarters for fingerprinting as ordered. Humby pleaded guilty to the charges.
With credit at an enhanced rate for the time he has spent in custody awaiting sentencing, Humby has 21 months left to serve.
According to an agreed statement of facts entered in court, Humby entered an Our Pleasure shop in June 2017 and stole a sex toy. Staff were easily able to identify him, however, since he had given the clerk his name upon entering the store when he inquired about the number of credit points he had on file.
When the store owner contacted Humby on Facebook to tell him she had video surveillance of the theft, Humby replied, saying he would come pay for the item. He was subsequently charged with theft.
Humby later sent the woman a photo of himself using the sex toy, and a photo of an erect penis, earning himself the indecent exposure charge.
Later in the summer, Humby stole a bottle of tequila from a liquor store on Ropewalk Lane, having brought it to the checkout but running away. In jail for other matters at the time he was charged with the theft, Humby looked at a photo of himself taken from the store’s surveillance footage and told police officers, “That’s a nice picture of me. Can I get one?”
In August, one of Humby’s two roommates came home to their Whiteway Street residence to find Humby attempting to cut the siding from the house in order to light the house on fire. The roommate convinced him to stop, but about an hour later a fire broke out in Humby’s bedroom.
The home was destroyed. Humby was questioned and denied any involvement, but turned himself in a week later, confessing to starting the fire by lighting a pile of clothes and telling investigators God had told him to do it. He was charged with arson and released on an undertaking requiring him to attend RNC headquarters for fingerprinting, but he never showed up.
Humby did show up at an Elizabeth Avenue Ultramar station, where he stole a half-case of beer.
Humby underwent a psychiatrist assessment and was found to not fit the criteria to be deemed not criminally responsible for his crimes. Forensic psychiatrist Dr. Jasbir Gill didn’t diagnosis Humby with a mental illness, the court heard, but suggested he might have antisocial personality traits or could be on the mild end of the autism spectrum or could have a paraphilic disorder.
In delivering his sentencing decision, Flynn said he had considered the fact that Humby has some challenges and has made progress since his arrest, but didn’t see a reason to give him a sentence lower than the 36-month precedent for arson charges in similar circumstances.
Flynn gave Humby 30 days in jail for the indecent exposure, and 10 days each for the theft, failure to appear in court and failure to appear for fingerprinting charges.
Once Humby is released from prison, he’ll be bound for three years by an order to not possess any incendiary device or have any contact with the owner of Our Pleasure.