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Judge hands long-term offender status to 68-year-old Chilliwack bank robber

Dean Evan Kinley robbed the Scotiabank downtown in 2017, one of 16 bank robberies in his life
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The RCMP dog unit on the scene after the Oct. 10, 2017 robbery of the Scotiabank in downtown Chilliwack. Dean Kinley, 68, was convicted of robbing the bank two years ago on Sept. 11, 2020. (Chilliwack Progress file)

A 68-year-old man convicted of robbing a downtown Chilliwack bank in 2017 was designated a long-term offender in B.C. Supreme Court on Wednesday.

Dean Kinley.
Dean Evan Kinley has been in jail since his arrest after robbing the Scotiabank across the street from the Chilliwack Law Courts on Oct. 10, 2017 and he will serve another year in jail followed by seven years under a long-term supervision order (LTSO).

He was convicted on Sept. 11, 2020 after a five-day trial, and he was scheduled to be sentenced last June but he changed his mind about a joint submission at the last minute.

READ MORE: Chilliwack bank robber has ‘second thoughts’ about joint sentencing submission at last minute

The court heard that Kinley has been convicted of 16 bank robberies and has spent 35 of the last 44 years in jail. After his last robbery sentence in 2011, he was warned by the judge that the next time he committed a robbery, his sentence would be “in the order of some of your more harsh sentences that you have received in your lifetime.”

Having served 1,587 days in custody since his arrest, Kinley was given the usual credit of 1.5-to-one so 2,381 days, or 6.5 years.

Crown counsel Henry Waldock asked Justice Sandra Wilkinson for a sentence of 12 to 24 months more in custody followed by a 10-year LTSO, the longest available under the law.

Waldock called a psychiatrist as an expert witness on reintegration into the community to comment on what risk Kinley poses to reoffend. The doctor said that based on his extensive history of robbery and theft to feed a serious drug addiction, Kinley needed supervision after release from custody, even at his advanced age.

Kinley’s lawyer Paul McMurray opposed the long-term offender (LTO) designation, instead asked for three to five years of parole. The LTO is a step down from a dangerous offender designation, and is handed down when an offender “poses a substantial risk of reoffending and causing serious harm; and, there is a reasonable possibility they can eventually be controlled in the community.”

While Kinley’s history of crime is extensive, McMurray painted a picture of a man now recovering on successfully from his addiction. Since he only robbed banks to pay for drugs, that risk is lessened by the lack of drug use. McMurray pointed to Kinley’s new sources of income as a senior citizen, and the possibility of a legal settlement due to a class action lawsuit over a historical case of sexual abuse.

Kinley is one of more than 200 former inmates who are part of a class action lawsuit against former jail guard Roderic David MacDougall who is accused of sexually abusing former inmates. MacDougall worked for B.C. Corrections from 1976 to 1997 in Oakalla, Alouette, and the Fraser Regional Correctional Centre and the Surrey Justice Centre.

RELATED: B.C.’s role should be considered in guard’s alleged sexual assault of inmates: lawyer

Kinley alleges he was abused by MacDougall when he was 22. His lawyer explained further that before that, as a child, he was sexually abused by a babysitter’s boyfriend, his parents separated and his father was absent while his step-father was an alcoholic. As a a child he was also hit by a train and suffered a traumatic brain injury and was hospitalized for nine months.

He was described as intelligent, but scoring high on the psychopathy index.

In reading her decision, Justice Wilkinson pointed to the many times Kinley said he was going to get help for his drug abuse but failed.

“There is a clear pattern of returning to drug abuse and robbery after being released from custody,” she said. “His optimism was invariably followed by disappointment.

“His pattern of reoffending is remarkable.”


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