High-risk offender admits he purchased alcohol hours after he was released from prison

A Kitchener man, deemed a high-risk offender, has pleaded guilty to buying alcohol just hours after he was released from prison. CTV’s Krista Simpson reports.

A Kitchener man, who was deemed a high-risk offender after being released from prison, has admitted to purchasing alcohol just hours after a judge ordered him not to.

Kevin Koehler pleaded guilty Friday to a breach of recognizance in a Kitchener courtroom.

He completed his sentence for manslaughter in the 2013 choking death of his roommate, Mary Anne May, on Oct. 16.

At that time, both the Waterloo Regional Police Service’s Offender Management Unit and the Crown Attorney requested additional conditions for Koehler due to his violent past, which included convictions for criminal negligence causing death, assault, assault with a weapon and assault on police.

Koehler agreed to a number of conditions imposed by Justice Dominique Kennedy for a period of 18 months, one of which was abstaining from buying or consuming any alcoholic beverage or controlled substance, unless prescribed by a physician.

That same day, a warning with Koehler’s photo was issued by Waterloo Regional Police. They also indicated the 60-year-old intended to live in Kitchener.

Court heard that less than five-and-a-half hours after the conditions were imposed, Koehler went to an LCBO store on Victoria Street in Kitchener and purchased a one litre bottle of fortified wine.

An employee recognized Koehler from the photo included in the media release and reported it to a supervisor the next day. They pulled the store’s video surveillance and contacted police.

Officers reviewed the video and agreed it was Koehler, noting he had on the same clothing he wore earlier that the day in court. They also flagged that his drink of choice was that same brand of fortified wine.

Koehler was arrested a short time later at a nearby motel. He initially claimed the LCBO purchase was for a “drunk [person] downtown” and he wasn’t intending on drinking it himself, something he reiterated in court.

“Mr. Koehler maintains that he bought it for somebody else and he didn’t consume it,” defence lawyer Nick Gehl at the plea hearing, adding that his client selected fortified wine because he didn’t know the other person’s drink of choice.

Koehler was found guilty of breaching the condition that he abstain from purchasing alcohol.

All parties will return to court on Dec. 8 so they can set a date for the sentencing.