A B.C. man has pleaded guilty to arson in connection with a fire that destroyed a brewery in downtown Prince George last year.
Richard Alex Gordon Titchener, 57, entered a guilty plea on Jan. 12 to one count of arson damaging property.
Titchener, who has a criminal record in B.C. dating back nearly two decades, was accused of intentionally setting fire to CrossRoads Brewing & Distillery at 508 George Street just before 3 a.m. on Sept. 5, 2025. No one was injured.
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“That one act destroyed our business, displaced 50 employees, and disrupted the lives of hundreds more – families, partners, community members, and neighbours,” the owners and co-founders of CrossRoads Brewing & Distillery wrote in a Sept. 16 letter to Prince George mayor and council.
Dr. Daryl Leiski and Cindy Zurowski told the city’s Standing Committee on Public Safety meeting Sept. 16, that the devastating fire highlighted the crisis downtown Prince George was facing in terms of crime, violence and public disorder.
“We are under siege,” he and Zurowski wrote.
At the time, Leiski and Zurowski said they could not continue to put their employees, families, community and businesses at risk, and urged the province to take real, urgent and decisive action.
“Give us back our streets,” they wrote. “Give us back our sense of safety. Without it, businesses like ours cannot survive, let alone rebuild.”
Titchener is due back in court on April 7 to set a date for his sentencing hearing.
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