Vernon Law Courts (Vernon Matters photo)

By Pete McIntyre

Kal Lake Lookout

Former Armed Forces veteran sentenced for Vernon robbery and arson

Dec 8, 2023 | 6:30 PM

A Canadian Armed Forces veteran who committed a violent robbery near Vernon two years ago told a judge he was “completely out of his mind” at the time and doesn’t remember what happened.

Ryan Miller, 47, was in B.C. Supreme Court in Vernon Friday afternoon for sentencing on five charges that he pled guilty to earlier: robbery, using an imitation firearm to commit an offence, arson damaging property, possession of stolen property over $5,000 and dangerous driving.

Crown lawyer Brock Bellrichard told the court on June 16, 2021 around 11 p.m., Miller was on probation when he arrived at the Kal Lake Lookout south of Vernon in a stolen vehicle. He pulled beside a parked red Camaro with two people inside it and approached the couple with a flashlight. He pulled out what appeared to be a black handgun and pointed it toward the couple and told them to “get out of the vehicle and give him their phones and wallets.”

“Both [victims] were quite frightened as there was no one else around. They complied with those orders, and at that time. Mr. Miller threw toward them a pair of zap straps and ordered to put them around their wrists. He was doing so pointing the black handgun,” Bellrichard said.

The handgun turned out to be an air soft pistol, but Bellrichard said the victims were under the impression it was a real gun.

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Miller then got into the Camaro and headed south on the highway to Kelowna

The victims got up and noticed a glow coming from the stolen SUV Miller arrived in, which later turned into a fire that destroyed the vehicle.

The victims, a man and woman with the zap straps still on, ran down the road and got assistance from another person who called 911.

Police arrived and took statements from the victims who gave a description of the suspect.

RCMP were able to contact On-Star, which the Camaro had, and located the vehicle moving at a high rate of speed near Lake Country.

Bellrichard said, as scary as the situation was, the victims were not physically harmed, but the man was quite distraught and is still impacted by the incident.

Police say the Camaro was going over 170 km/h on Highway 97 towards Kelowna and it ultimately went up Clifton Road in a residential area, going an estimated 110 km/h.

The car was located disabled in that area, and a police canine unit was able to locate Miller’s track in a nearby home’s pool room, and he was arrested without further incident.

Bellrichard said Miller had a criminal record, some in the distant past, and more recently for intimate partner violence incidents of uttering threats and criminal harassment.

The Crown lawyer noted the range of robbery sentences are from two to nine years, depending on the aggravating and mitigating circumstances.

He said one mitigating factor for Miller is that he pled guilty which saved the court and police officers time had there been a trial. He also credited Miler for attending a residential treatment program funded by Veteran Affairs and was very successful in the program, only to land back in custody for a technical breach when he was found in possession of a lighter, contrary to his order.

Aggravating factors included that it was a random act of violence using an imitation firearm where the victims were held at gunpoint in their perspective.

Bellrichard also noted the danger created by the vehicle fire during a time of wildfires and the high speeds he drove on the highway and in the residential area.

The Crown and defence made a joint submission for a 1,500 day sentence, which is 50 months, or just over four years in custody. It was recommended he get credit of 924 days for time already served in pre-trial custody.

The end result of that would be another 576 days, or 19 months, in a provincial institution.

Defence lawyer Grant Gray said Miller was born in Kamloops and grew up in Clinton B.C.

He joined the Canadian Armed Forces at age 19 and spent six years there serving tours of duty in Kosovo in 1998 and in Bosnia in 1999 and was in combat situations.

He received an honourable discharge and was later diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of his combat service.

Miller, who has a child around age 7, later worked in oil rigs and then in forestry in Merritt before that came to an end.

“His difficulty with the law really started after he stopped working,” Gray explained.

Gray said his client had a “really significant alcohol problem” before entering a program in Kelowna and was sober for two years before relapses in 2016 and 2018.

“Cocaine, methamphetamine and alcohol were the difficulties, but the number one difficulty he tells me was always alcohol. It was a full-on problem for him and it caused him to get into a lot of difficulties.”

Three psychiatrists from Veterans Affairs diagnosed him with PTSD, and Miller later attended and completed the Edgewood treatment program in Nanaimo before missing a bail reporting condition in Victoria. He was arrested and found with a lighter which violated his bail terms, even though Gray noted he is a smoker.

Miller, who was appearing on video from the Kamloops Regional Correctional Centre, spoke to Justice Briana Hardwick.

“I don’t really recall what happened that night,” Miller said. I do understand that it’s 100 per cent unacceptable. I will also say that I was completely out of my mind and had been up for days.”

Miller noted his struggles with addictions for the last 20 years but since his arrest, he said he’s been sober and missed two of his son’s birthdays. His father also passed away and he was in jail for that.

“I understand there has to be a significant jail sentence but I’m just wondering if there is some leniency to someone who has effectively addressed the problem.”

Miller said he just wants to “be a dad and visit his family” when he gets out, and asked if the discretionary driving prohibition of one year not be applied in his case.

Judge Hardwick agreed with the joint submission, saying she was “satisfied that it was appropriate in the circumstances.”

She gave Miller 924 days of enhanced credit (pre-trial time served).

For the five counts he pled guilty to, Hardwick sentenced Miller to another 576 days (19 months) to serve in custody.

The judge also imposed a mandatory DNA order and lifetime firearms prohibition.

She did not impose the one year driving prohibition that the Crown suggested.

She said while the incidents were traumatic for the people involved, and it was fortunate no others were harmed, she noted Miller’s conviction report did not indicate a pattern of prohibited driving or driving offences.

“I do not consider it necessary for the protection of the public that he be prohibited from driving. This does appear to have been a whirlwind of events that gave rise to these convictions,” the justice said.

Miller also received one year of probation which will begin once he’s released.