Intruder at upscale hotel

A homeless Kamloops man who left behind a big mess after breaking into a suite at an upscale downtown hotel has been ordered to spend eight months in jail.

Troy Felix, 27, was sentenced Thursday in Kamloops provincial court after pleading guilty to one count of break and enter.

Staffers at the Sandman Signature Hotel on Lorne Street noticed Felix going into an unoccupied room on the morning of Aug. 27. Crown prosecutor Evan Goulet said a hotel employee knocked on the door to tell him to leave.

"He didn’t respond and he hid in the room,” he said. "He dead-bolted the door from the inside and for some time refused to leave.”

Goulet said it didn’t take hotel staff long to figure out how Felix got into the suite.

“They checked the CCTV footage and were able to see that the night prior, Mr. Felix was behind the front desk of the hotel rummaging through drawers,” he said.

"That’s how he was able to gain access to Room 106 — by rummaging through the drawers at the front desk.”

Felix left the room before police arrived at the hotel. Employees followed him and watched as he was arrested a short distance away.

Goulet said the room was left strewn with garbage and the TV had been removed from the wall, but nothing was missing.

Defence lawyer Sheldon Tate said Felix was looking for a place to stay.

“This particular incident had more to do with his homelessness than any opportunistic theft,” he said. "I appreciate break and enter is serious, but this wasn’t a residence, it was a hotel — no one was harmed.”

Kamloops provincial court Judge Marian Armstrong sentenced Felix to eight months in jail to be followed by 12 months of probation, with a condition requiring he stay away from the Sandman Signature Hotel.

Once he is given credit for time served, Felix will have a little more than four months remaining on his jail sentence.