Father pressured son to stage robbery, steal $40K: judge

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A young Moncton man was spared jail on Wednesday for helping to steal tens of thousands of dollars from his workplace because the judge agreed his father had pressured him to do it.

“This was an unusual situation, I don’t doubt that at all,” said provincial court Judge Ronald LeBlanc. “I could understand how your father would have been putting pressure on you and you didn’t know how to resist it.”

The offender in the case was Kyle Lewis, 25, who pleaded guilty to stealing more than $5,000 and public mischief for misleading police while the Crown withdrew a charge of conspiring to commit public mischief.

His father, Adam Philip Coates, 44, was sentenced last year to 15 months in jail after pleading guilty to theft, breach of probation and conspiring with Lewis. Police initially investigated the matter as a robbery but after arresting Coates they eventually charged Lewis as well.

Prosecutor Stephen Holt told the court that Lewis worked at the Wilson’s Gas Bar on Botsford Street and he called 911 on June 7, 2023, at 5:40 a.m. and told them he had been robbed. He said he arrived at work to open the store and someone approached him and told him to go inside, shut off the alarm and open the safe. The robber was dressed in black, taped Lewis’s hands to restrain him and Lewis hit the panic button after he was gone.

The robber stole just under $43,000.

Holt said police collected video surveillance from the area that showed Coates taking off his mask and he was identified. They eventually arrested him but the money was never recovered.

During the investigation it was learned Lewis was his son. When police reviewed the video of the robbery again, they noted Lewis didn’t resist the robber at all, willingly opened the safe and allowed himself to be restrained. Holt said he only began shaking out of supposed fear when he called for help.

Police brought him in to give another statement the prosecutor said he admitted knowing his dad was the robber. He said he’d talked to his dad and was complaining about his job when his father suggested staging the robbery. Holt said Lewis told police he never agreed to it but his dad showed up at the start of the shift and told him they were doing it so he went along with it.

“He told police he didn’t know how to say he got robbed by his father. He felt like a loser,” said Holt.

Lewis also told police he didn’t need the money and he didn’t want it to happen. He has a spouse and three young children and his life was going fine up to that point.

Holt did point out that while Lewis may not have wanted to participate in the theft from his employer, when a security company came by earlier in the week to take the bank deposits, Lewis didn’t make himself available to open the safe, so there was more cash in the safe at the time of the fake robbery than there should have been.

Holt and defence lawyer Daniel Gallant made a joint recommendation for a nine-month conditional sentence with the first third under house arrest, followed by a year’s probation. During the sentence Lewis can’t go to the store or have contact with the manager, Earl Melanson. He was also ordered to pay almost $21,500 in restitution, which Coates also has to pay.

Theft from employers are supposed to result in jail unless there are exceptional circumstances and the lawyers and judge agreed the unusual dynamic between the father and son accomplices counted in this case.

“To a degree the situation was forced on him by his father,” said Holt.

Coates has a criminal record while Lewis had none prior to this.

Gallant said his client is working again and focused on his family and his new job. He said Coates didn’t raise Lewis and they didn’t have much of a relationship until the months leading up to the theft when he was “cajoled” into developing a relationship with his father.

“He got a bit taken advantage of by his father,” the defence lawyer said.

The judge agreed, with LeBlanc saying he didn’t know how many people would be willing to call the police and say their dad just stole $40,000 from their workplace. The judge said while Lewis never should have co-operated with the scheme, the circumstances were exceptional and he doesn’t expect to see him back in court.

Melanson read his victim impact statement in court and said he now fears for his safety and the safety of his staff, where he never had before. He said he considered Lewis a friend and he feels betrayed.

“You stole more than just money, you stole from me the ability to trust anyone,” he said.

Melanson said he accepts the joint recommendation that spares Lewis jail because “I know you’re a good guy and I know you’ll never do something like this again.”

He looked at Lewis as he said it and the offender assured him he would not. Once sentence was imposed, the store manager approached Lewis, shook his hand and wished him well.