A man who used information stolen from a computer hard drive to try to extort a West Vancouver businessman has been sentenced to a 15-month conditional sentence.Kristopher Frederick Kenneth Joyce, 40, of Vancouver, was sentenced Friday in North Vancouver provincial court following guilty pleas a year ago to nine charges involving impersonation and illegal use of identity documents.Joyce originally faced 14 charges, including extortion.Crown counsel Linda Ostry said the incident began in March 2020 when a West Vancouver businessman who worked in the financial industry discovered his unlocked vehicle had been broken into and a portable hard drive stolen.The drive contained multiple business and banking documents as well as identity information for both the man and a business partner, as well as their family members, said Ostry.Soon after, the man began receiving notices of attempted online transactions and credit applications made in his name.In the following weeks, the man also began to receive emails from a stranger who said he had the businessman’s computer drive and demanded that he be paid $5,000 in crypto currency.
If the victim failed to comply, the stranger said he would post all of the information contained on the drive on to the dark web, said Ostry, where it would be made available for criminals to use.Police investigators traced the email to an IP address associated with a physical address in the 300 block of East Hastings Street, said Ostry, which had also been used to file a credit application in another name.The same IP address was also attached to a credit application from Joyce, using his phone number and email.Police later searched Joyce’s apartment under warrant where they found drugs, discarded needles and numerous lost or stolen identity documents including passports, credit cards and drivers’ licences of 14 people.Joyce’s computer and cell phone were also searched.Police confirmed they were used to send the email threats and to apply for credit under other people’s names, said Ostry.Joyce later told police he was a drug dealer, and his customers often paid him with stolen items, which is how he’d come to have the computer hard drive.
Joyce told police he committed the crimes because “he was desperate for money to support his drug use,” said Ostry.A pre-sentence report pointed to a “serious and longstanding” drug addiction since Joyce was 13, she said.In the past year and a half, however, he has been attending rehab to kick his addiction.Ostry said while the victim of Joyce’s actions didn’t suffer financially, stress from the incident led to several health issues.
Joyce has a lengthy criminal record, said Ostry, although his defence lawyer added it is mostly for “unsophisticated” crime related to his drug use.Judge Nancy Adams said serving his sentence in the community will allow Joyce to continue his rehabilitation.She ordered him to obey a curfew between 10 p.m.and 6 a.m.She also ordered Joyce to complete 18 months of probation following his conditional sentence..
