Jury finds Oswald guilty of robbing West Kelowna drug store

KELOWNA – A Kelowna Supreme Court jury has found Brandon Joseph Oswald guilty of using an imitation handgun to rob a West Kelowna drug store of thousands of pain pills and hundreds of dollars in 2014.

Oswald, 24, was found guilty of robbery, disguising his face during the robbery and using an imitation firearm to commit an indictable offence.

He was arrested on March 11, 2014, as he left the Shoppers Drug Mart on Dobbin Road with roughly 6,000 pain pills and several hundred dollars. He was wearing sunglasses and a bandana over his face and carrying what appeared to be a black handgun he used to get pills and cash from employees as they prepared to close for the day. When he left the store roughly ten RCMP officers were outside waiting.

His lawyer Valerie Hartney argued because no threats or violence were used he should be found innocent of the robbery charge, but after two days of deliberation the jury found him guilty of the three most significant charges.

The 12-person jury found Oswald not guilty of possessing an unregistered shotgun and ammunition police found on a futon in his apartment.

He will be sentenced sometime in August.

Oswald, who has no prior criminal history, still faces numerous other possible charges relating to up to six other robberies that occurred one month earlier in Kelowna and West Kelowna.


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Adam Proskiw

Adam has lived in B.C. most of his life. He was born in the Caribou, grew up in the Okanagan, went to university on Vancouver Island and worked as a news photographer in Vancouver. His favourite stories incorporate meaningful photography and feature interesting, passionate locals. He studied writing at UVic and photojournalism in California. He loves talking tractors, dogs and cameras and is always looking for a good story.


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