Hook-up on dating site turned into robbery
ONLINE PREDATOR: Man who drugged another man, ransacked his home and stole SUV gets 6 years in jail
A man who drugged another man he had met through a dating website, then ransacked his home and stole his vehicle and other belongings, has been sentenced to six years in prison.
After connecting on the Internet, Brendan Thomas Roshinsky, 26, told his victim, who is only identified in a court ruling by the initial S due to a publication ban, that his name was “Tom” and that he was offering sex for cash.
Roshinsky, who had a criminal record and was on parole at the time, told S that he had put his girlfriend on a float plane to Campbell River, that she was not returning until the following day and that the two men could hook up at S’s home overnight.
He asked S to pick up some mango juice so he could mix S a drink of vodka mango. When he arrived at S’s house on Nov. 8, 2012, S made a drink for Roshinsky but he said he didn’t like it and wanted to make a “secret special family drink” with the mango juice.
Roshinsky made the drink but, unbeknownst to S, he spiked it with the date rape drug GHB.
S drank from Roshinsky’s concoction but said he didn’t like it and tried to pour it out but Roshinsky protested and topped up the drink with more mango juice.
S drank most of the drink but began to suffer a headache and lost consciousness. He didn’t wake up for almost three hours, lying on the floor in a pool of his own vomit.
But by that time, Roshinsky had ransacked S’s home. He stole electronics, jewelry, clothing and a valuable coin collection, as well as S’s SUV. The stolen vehicle was recovered the next day in Vancouver’s West End but the other belongings have never been recovered.
Roshinsky, the father of an infant daughter, pleaded guilty on March 9 to administration of a stupefying drug, theft and theft of a motor vehicle.
In imposing sentence, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Saunders took note of a number of aggravating factors including his criminal record, which included convictions for possession and trafficking of a controlled substance, carrying a concealed weapon, mischief, petty theft and stolen property crimes consistent with drug addiction.
In October 2009, he was convicted of robbery, forcible confinement and possession of stolen property following a home invasion, crimes for which he was sentenced to five years in prison. He was on parole for those offences when he committed the crimes against S.
Saunders said he rejected “completely” the defence assertion that it was nothing more than a crime of opportunity, finding that it was undoubtedly a premeditated offence.
“I am greatly disturbed by the predatory aspect of Mr. Roshinsky’s conduct, that being his having sought out his victim through a hook-up website. It stands to reason that users of such sites will often desire anonymity and may well not report a crime out of fear of embarrassment in revealing the details of their private sexual lives.”
Saunders sentenced Roshinsky to six years in prison but after receiving credit for pre-sentence custody, he will have to serve three years and nine months in jail.
Roshinsky was also banned from possessing firearms for life and ordered to provide a DNA sample.