A former Winnipeg police constable who admitted to stealing cash and other items he thought were evidence during a 2024 “integrity test” avoided jail time during an emotional court hearing on Wednesday, after he reached a joint sentencing recommendation with prosecutors.

Matthew Kadyniuk, 34, pleaded guilty to breach of trust and theft under $5,000 in January. He was arrested alongside now-imprisoned former officer Elston Bostock following an October 2024 undercover operation that was part of a months-long police investigation into Bostock.

An undercover RCMP officer posed as a victim of a vehicle break-in, telling the two officers who responded to the call — Bostock and Kadyniuk — that he’d confronted the suspect and ripped a backpack off him as he ran.

The officers then took the backpack from the fake victim, and later removed items from it, including cash, cigarettes and bear spray, while being secretly recorded, an agreed statement of facts previously read to court said.

Kadyniuk was sentenced on Wednesday to a conditional sentence order of two years less a day, which is the maximum length for that kind of order. The first year will be served in house arrest, or an absolute curfew, aside from going to work at his new job. For the remaining time, he will be under a curfew and other conditions.

Court of King’s Bench Justice Kenneth Champagne told Kadyniuk, who court heard resigned from the Winnipeg Police Service after pleading guilty, that he was fortunate to have reached the joint recommendation with prosecutors that the judge deferred to.

“I’ll tell you this: had there not been a joint submission, you would have been going out the back door with the sheriff’s officers,” Champagne said.

“The Winnipeg Police Service is the largest police service in this province. There needs to be a message for the other Matthew Kadyniuks on that force: If you do something like this, you get caught and you get convicted, there’s going to be serious consequences.”

Kadyniuk was joined in court by a handful of family members and supporters, some of whom submitted letters of support for him to the court. He wiped his eyes throughout his sentencing hearing as he sat next to his lawyer, who said his client wasn’t someone who could “serve a conditional sentence anonymously,” noting the publicity his charges received.

“[His] church community, his family, his neighbours and the parents at his children’s school will all know exactly who he is and what he has done,” Josh Weinstein said.

In a quiet, shaky voice, Kadyniuk read a statement to court, apologizing and taking responsibility for his actions.

He feels “great remorse and shame,” he said.

“I was placed in a position of trust,” he said. “That trust was broken, and I’m sorry.”

Champagne said the curfew attached to the conditional sentence order “puts teeth” in the sentence that was recommended — but will also place a burden on Kadyniuk’s family.

“It ties you up. You’re going to be at home when your five-year-old and your seven-year-old are being taken to their sporting events, their after-school events by your wife,” Champagne said.

“Your wife is going to carry a load for your household for the next two years. You should be extremely thankful that you have all of these folks here today, and all the people who provided these letters of support.”

While Champagne told Kadyniuk he was “far from a hardened criminal” and “not a Mr. Bostock,” he said Kadyniuk still chose to participate that day.

“You let yourself down, your family, your colleagues on the police force, people in this city, when you said ‘Yes,'” Champagne said.

Bostock was sentenced to seven years, after pleading guilty to a long list of offences committed over a period of years. Another officer accused alongside him in a separate incident is awaiting a judge’s decision after a trial this month, while a fourth officer accused alongside Bostock is expected to go to trial later this year.