A 48-year-old Prince George man was sent to jail for almost a year for intimidating a justice system participant.
On March 10 in Kelowna, provincial court Judge Andrew Tam sentenced Troy Alvin Mruk to 15 months. Since he had been in custody for 61 calendar days, Mruk qualified for 92 days credit. That means his net sentence is 358 days.
Mruk, who was tried over five days in November and one in December, should have been sentenced sooner, but he lied about his mother being hospitalized. In his sentencing decision, Tam said Mruk had told the court that his mother suffered a heart attack on the day that she was going to drive him from Prince George to Kelowna.
“The court required Mr. Mruk to furnish a letter to confirm that his mother was in fact at the hospital,” Tam wrote. “The matter was then adjourned on a couple of occasions for the production of the letter, which letter was ultimately not available because his mother was never at the hospital. While it is true that his mother is elderly and may have health issues, the explanation that she was in the hospital and could not provide transportation was a lie. This shows, again, the little respect Mr. Mruk has for the administration of justice.”
Evidence at trial showed Mruk was friends with a drug dealer who broke into a former customer’s home and assaulted her. The woman reported the incident to police and the drug dealer was charged.
Mruk contacted the victim by text message, using his nickname, “Bones,” on a phone borrowed from a third party. Mruk’s message read: “Keep your word n show up for court 👍 know and we know now the law needs you to tell them YOU lied!!!! It is all for the best for everyone involved Especially YOU!!”
The victim did not recognize the phone number from which the message came, so she asked the sender to contact her. When Mruk called, he reiterated the text and “also added that he knew where (the victim) lived,” Tam said.
Tam said there was more than one victim of Mruk’s actions, because “the offence strikes at the very core of our justice system, which is itself an essential part of a healthy democracy.”
While the offence is punishable by up to 14 years in jail, the Crown sought a nine-to-12 month sentence, plus a 12-month probation order. The defence asked for six months, but did not contest the Crown’s probation request.
Tam described Mruk’s criminal record as “dated,” but it includes: False pretenses in 1999, reporting an offence committed when it was not in 2002 and uttering threats twice in 2012.
“Mr. Mruk’s moral culpability is also high,” Tam said. “It was a pre-meditated offence in that he took the step of using someone else’s phone to deliver the message. It was not a spur of the moment event. It was a calculated threat to induce [the victim] to change her story in court for the benefit of his friend.”
However, Tam took into account Mruk’s personal circumstances as mitigating factors.
Mruk grew up with an alcoholic, abusive father and worked as a long-haul trucker until seven years ago when he was injured in a serious motor vehicle crash. Mruk has since relied on WorkSafeBC benefits and income assistance. Mruk has been sober 20 years and is single, with a 31-year-old son. He lives with his elderly mother, but he suffered a stroke around Christmas 2024, was diagnosed with blood clots and lost two of his toes.
“I have given compassionate consideration to Mr. Mruk’s health challenges as well as those of his elderly mother,” Tam wrote. “Had those not been at play, the sentence would likely have been in the range of 18 months to two years less a day.”
