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HALIFAX, N.S. —

A Halifax pawn shop owner was wilfully blind as to whether a $5,999 left-handed Gibson Les Paul custom guitar found during a police raid at his business in October 2017 had been stolen, says a judge.

Lonnie Mercelle Murphy, 46, was found guilty last week in Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Halifax of possessing the guitar - which still had a Long & McQuade sales sticker attached to it - and a number of other stolen goods.

The other property included two pieces of music production equipment from Long & McQuade, a bass amp that had been stolen from a Long & McQuade customer, tools that belonged to Duron Atlantic, safety harnesses and a drill hammer pilfered from an Economy Glass work truck, and an assortment of lingerie, sheet sets and other items from retailers who were not named in the indictment.

Those retailers, the trial heard, consisted of LaSenza, TJX Canada (which owns Winners and Marshalls), Hudson’s Bay Co., Home Depot and Princess Auto.

Justice Jamie Campbell also convicted Murphy of possessing about 52 grams of cocaine and 3.5 kilograms of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking but acquitted him on four firearms charges related to a semi-automatic rifle that was seized by police in the Oct. 26, 2017, search of London Pawn Shop on Isleville Street.

The judge rejected Murphy’s explanation that the goods seized in the raid had been bought at an auction, that he did not know that the items were stolen and that he was not suspicious about whether they were stolen.

Murphy insisted the raid was a setup involving a conspiracy between police officers and an informant.

'Glaring' grounds for suspicion

“Lonnie Murphy knew that he was operating a pawn shop in which he bought goods from people who were not personally known to him, and that potentially some of those items were stolen,” Campbell said in a written decision released Tuesday.

When acquiring the guitar, Murphy would have known he was dealing with a valuable item, the judge said.

“The only reason not to ask questions in those circumstances is because Mr. Murphy did not want to know the answers," he said. "That is wilful blindness.

“In the case of the property involved in these charges, the grounds for suspicion are so glaring that Mr. Murphy had to have had questions about whether the items were stolen. ... It is not whether he should have been suspicious or whether a reasonable person would be suspicious. Lonnie Murphy himself was suspicious as to whether the goods were stolen and chose not to make inquiries.”

Murphy was found not guilty of possessing property that the Crown alleged had been stolen from Canadian Tire stores in Lower Truro and Lower Sackville, including tires, trolling motors and stand mixers. While the items matched the description of merchandise stolen from the two stores, the judge said it was possible that they had been legally purchased at the stores and then pawned.

Murphy will be sentenced April 3 on five counts of possession of stolen property, one count of possession of stolen property for the purpose of trafficking, and the two drug charges.

Michelle Lynn Yetman, 39, of Halifax was an employee of the pawn shop and had a key to the premises. She faced the same 16 charges as Murphy but was found not guilty on all counts.