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Kelowna man convicted in Shoppers Drug Mart robbery

Kelowna man Brandon Oswald was convicted on three of four charges related to the 2014 robbery of Shoppers Drug Mart.
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Kelowna Law Courts

Kelowna man Brandon Oswald was convicted on three of four charges related to the 2014 robbery of Shoppers Drug Mart.

He will be sentenced late August for robbery, disguising his face with the intent to commit an offence and the use of an imitation firearm.

The jury rendered a not guilty verdict on the charge of unauthorized possession of a firearm.

Oswald was, according to his lawyer, contrite for the crimes he committed.

"He's been doing well, has been staying out of trouble and is working," she said.

Well dressed, and seemingly affable, Oswald certainly put forward a significantly less menacing image than police reports from the time of his arrest indicated.

"On March 11, 2014, just before 10 p.m., plainclothes and uniformed officers from both Kelowna and West Kelowna were conducting surveillance on a 22-year-old West Kelowna man suspected of several armed robberies beginning in February," reads a press release from Const. Kris Clark, dated March 14, 2014.

"Police followed the suspect to the Shoppers Drug Mart located at 2475 Dobbin Road but were not in a position to intervene prior to him entering the store, masked and gun-in-hand. The man reportedly demanded cash and drugs from the staff before calmly leaving the store on foot. He had left his vehicle strategically parked a short distance away but police weren't willing to let the suspect get that far, taking him into custody in the parking lot."

Oswald, who was 22 at the time, was later arrested and  the gun he was carrying was deemed to be a fake.

In addition to the charges at hand, Oswald pleaded guilty to two provincial court charges of breaching  bail conditions.

Another outstanding court matter with several charges attached to it has yet to be dealt with.