A Vancouver man has been sentenced to one year in jail for, among other crimes, setting a 2022 fire that destroyed a Portland Hotel Society mobile home used for supporting people in the Downtown Eastside.
Vancouver Provincial Court Judge David St. Pierre heard that Jacob Edward Mein pleaded guilty to mischief, mischief $5,000 or under, breaking and entering and assault with a weapon.
The mischief charge was amended from a charge of arson in relation to an inhabited property in January 2022.
Crown prosecutor Louise Gauld told St. Pierre CCTV footage showed two men by a mobile home when one lit a portable toilet on fire.
“The flames slowly grew until the vehicle was engulfed,” Gauld said.
She said the damage to the vehicle was $31,000 while that to the toilet was $2,200.
Mein also pleaded guilty to breaking and entering in connection with a Dec. 5, 2021 incident where a woman came home to find her door had been jimmied.
Gauld told St. Pierre Mein was identified through DNA taken from blood found at the scene.
The assault with a weapon charged involved Mein assaulting a man he knew at Vancouver’s Raincity Shelter. Gauld said Mein struck the man in the head with a wooden stick causing lacerations. She said the victim had asked Mein why he had done it, and was told he had been disrespectful the day before.
The mischief count involved Mein cutting a debit machine cord at a Main Street McDonald’s. He had cable snippers with him when arrested, Gauld said.
Mein was also sentenced to two years’ probation.
He apologized to the court, saying his actions were “reckless.”
