A 39-year-old man received a suspended sentence and year on probation Oct. 7 after pleading guilty to mischief under $5,000 for fouling a jail cell.
A Provincial Court judge in Prince George ordered Rory William McCullough to pay $585.66 restitution for the mattress he ruined while in RCMP custody.
McCullough was arrested Dec. 30, 2024 after a complaint that he was violating a release order by being under the influence of alcohol. As an officer transported McCullough, he yelled profanity and made threats, according to Crown prosecutor Anne Baines. McCullough maintained his not guilty plea to a charge of uttering threats.
Once he was locked-up, McCullough tore the mattress in the cell, defecated and threw his feces around.
The mattress had to be replaced and a janitorial company called to decontaminate the cell.
Baines and defence lawyer David Jenkins jointly proposed a 12-month probation with counselling for alcohol and intimate violence.
Baines provided Judge David Simpkin with receipts and photographs of the grime scene. He agreed to the restitution order, with a deadline for McCullough to pay of Sept. 1, 2026.
Jenkins said that McCullough, who has worked on oil rigs in Alberta and construction in Prince George, is remorseful and regrets the incident that happened while he was “in the throes of extreme intoxication.”
“Seen the photographs? I had to look at them,” Simpkin said to McCullough. “So, you were 38 at the time, and this is how you behave when you know intoxicated, smearing your own feces all around the police cell? So I'm surprised you haven't had a chance to look at those, but they're horrible.”
