A bid for the third highest bail that a Bracebridge defence lawyer’s seen in the town’s history has been denied.
52-year-old Huntsville resident James Rye, the man who police say ditched a truck along Highway 11 that was hauling four stolen snowmobiles and who then fled the scene by stealing a canoe, was in court today.
Bail had been set at $20,000 – a sum Rye’s stepfather had been willing to meet as surety.
But Justice of the Peace R. Rerup told court the stepfather's bail scenario didn't ultimately meet her imposed 24-hour house arrest demands.
Crown Attorney Peter Heath said Rye’s criminal record consists of 26 convictions prior to 2005 and many more beyond that.
The JP had already nixed Rye’s mother from being surety and when she heard his stepfather would still have to go to work through the week, effectively taking him away from the Hidden Valley Road home where Rye would have been staying during his bail term, she once again said no.
Chief amongst her concerns are the safety of the public, but she suggested that if another person could meet the expensive bail and her strict demands, then they could apply as surety at a future date.
For now, Rye remains in custody.
Crown Attorney Heath told court he didn’t believe that Rye’s mother, who court heard would have been at home with her son under the bail plan, would call in “her precious little boy” to police if he broke any of the proposed stipulations, which included residing at all times in the home unless accompanied by his stepfather.
Rye, who is charged with breaking into a Wilson's Falls Residence in Bracebridge, stealing a canoe, being in possession of stolen property and breaching a prior order to keep the peace, set on June 28, 2016, will have his next court appearance December 18th in Bracebridge.
