A Paradise man who rigged his home’s electrical meter so he could get electricity for free after his service had been cut was handed a suspended sentence Wednesday morning.
Christopher Todd Martin will also be on probation for 12 months with a condition that he get counselling for financial related matters.
Provincial court Judge Mike Madden said he had considered giving Martin a period of house arrest, but deemed it inappropriate, since Martin’s crime had been committed at home.
Martin, 49, represented himself at trial last month, and argued there was no evidence to suggest he was the person responsible for tampering with the meter at his Croydon Street home in the summer of 2017.
Prosecutor Jennifer Colford disagreed, questioning who else would do it.
Madden later ruled in Colford’s favour, saying the only reasonable conclusion was that Martin was guilty of tampering with the meter or instructing someone else to do it for him.
“It’s based on common sense. It’s based on reason. It’s based on logic,” Madden said when he convicted Martin.
The court heard a Newfoundland Power representative had cut Martin’s electricity on June 27, 2017 for non-payment of his bill. When he happened to drive by the home a few days later, the representative noticed lights on inside and informed Newfoundland Power’s revenue protection officer, who verified Martin’s service had not been restored.
Newfoundland Power representatives visited the home July 2 and found two metal strips had been inserted into the meter, replacing parts that had been removed when the service was cut and allowing electricity to flow freely. They called police, who also paid Martin a visit.
An RNC officer told the court Martin had shown him a generator in his shed and had told him that’s how he was getting his electricity. The officer and the Newfoundland Power employees testified the generator had not been running when they arrived.
A neighbour, an acquaintance and an electrician testified as witnesses for Martin, saying they had seen and heard the generating running.
“There’s no doubt he had a generator. But at that point, it would have been a generator sitting in a shed,” Colford said.
*Note: This is a corrected version of this story.
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