Police in West Vancouver have caught a PIN pad thief red-handed -- and kicked him out of the province.
On Tuesday night, the owner of a Park Royal area juice bar called police after someone stole the PIN pad from the counter. He had just serving two customers and noticed that the device was missing.
Police apprehended the men shortly after near Marine Dr. and 14th St. after being alerted by a transit operator. After a brief investigation, police recovered the pad from a rental car parked nearby.
On Thursday, 23-year-old Quebec native Jonathan Ramirez-Dionne pled guilty to theft under $5,000 in a North Vancouver courtroom.
"He was sentenced to one year probation and a $200 fine," says Const. Jeff Palmer.
But that's not all. The judge has also given the unusual order for him to leave the area.
"An interesting aspect of his probationary requirement the judge has ordered him to leave British Columbia by four o'clock Friday afternoon and he's not to be found in British Columbia during the term of his probation."
The owner of the juice bar doesn't think the penalty is heavy enough.
"It's funny because if I was caught speeding, it would be a bigger fine, and you know it's less of a heinous crime per say, and they get $200 which is a little bit bizarre," says Blake Goddard.
Police advise merchants to securely attach pin pads to counters at and to train staff to regularly check the devices.
This isn't the first time Park Royal mall has been hit by debit thieves.
Last March, police warned customers to change their PIN numbers after two La Senza's and an Aldo store had their PIN pads stolen.
PIN pads don't normally record PIN numbers, but the devices can be modified to take in personal information.
In August 2007, phony PIN pads turned up at four retail stores, including and thieves used the stolen information to withdraw money from hundreds of accounts.
