Former Burns Lake mayor Luke Strimbold has been sentenced to two years less a day in jail after pleading guilty to four counts of sexual assault involving minors.
Strimbold’s time behind bars will be followed by two years probation, a judge determined Wednesday, which will include no contact with his victims.
Crown prosecutors were seeking four to six years in federal prison. Madam Justice Brown recommended instead that Strimbold serve his time in the Ford Mountain provincial institution in Chilliwack.
Strimbold pleaded guilty in May to four counts of sexual assault involving four boys who were under the age of 16. Some of the incidents were said to have taken place while he was mayor of Burns Lake between 2011 and 2016.
Those counts were among 29 charges laid against Strimbold in 2018 — including sexual assault, sexual interference and invitation to sexual touching — involving six male teens.
Of that total, at least 15 charges date back to when Strimbold was mayor.
The sentence was delivered by the judge via video conference from Vancouver after her flight to Smithers, B.C., was cancelled. Strimbold was at the Smithers courthouse to hear the verdict.
Strimbold could not be tracked down for comment before or after the sentence was handed down.
Strimbold made history when he became the youngest-ever mayor elected in B.C. at age 21. He was re-elected in 2014 but resigned midway through his term to further his schooling and spend time with his family.
Just weeks into his first term, in January 2012, an explosion and fire at the Babine Forest Products sawmill killed two men and injured 19 others.
Strimbold also served as the BC Liberal Party membership chair for the provincial executive board.