An 18-year-old man from Prince George, B.C. has pleaded guilty to four of seven charges he is facing in connection with a pair of home invasions in Vancouver’s Yaletown neighbourhood last year.
Gary David John entered guilty pleas in Vancouver provincial court on June 18 to two counts of break and enter, one count of assault with a weapon, and one count of robbery in the September 2020 incidents, the BC Prosecution Service confirmed.
John is still accused of assault with a weapon, robbery and disguising his face with the intent to commit an offence in the first of the two home invasions.
Vancouver police say the suspect broke into two different residences and threatened both homeowners.
A woman told Global News that on Sept. 3 she awoke to find a stranger brandishing a knife in her townhouse unit near Nelson and Richards streets.
At the time, police were unable to track the suspect down.
Less than two weeks later on Sept. 16, Karen Thibodeau said she was asleep in her ground-floor unit near Pacific Boulevard and Cambie Street – when she awoke to a noise in her home and discovered a man at the head of her bed.
“He jumped back and he told me to be quiet and that he had a knife and he would use it if I didn’t be quiet,” she told Global News.
Thibodeau called 911 as soon as the man left, and officers were able to track him down nearby.
An interview with the suspect linked him to both break-ins, Const. Tania Visintin with the VPD said at the time.
John’s next court appearance is scheduled for July 14, when a date for sentencing will be set.
-With files from Simon Little