A Saskatchewan man who was convicted last Thursday of threatening a Yukoner with a fake assault rifle won’t have a criminal record.

In territorial court, Justice Donald Luther accepted Karl Chaschin’s guilty plea for possessing a weapon for dangerous purposes, and ordered an absolute discharge.

That means Chaschin, 55, is deemed to not have been convicted.

He will have to pay a $500-fine and is banned from possessing weapons for the next 21 months, but he will keep a clean criminal record.

Chaschin also has to forfeit the fake gun he used.

The Criminal Code’s definition of a weapon includes imitations.

Luther noted that the test for an absolute discharge had been met, as it was both in the accused’s best interest and not against the public interest.

Chaschin travels regularly to the U.S. for family and business. A criminal record would have prevented or hampered that.

Crown prosecutor Jennifer Grandy had asked the court to impose a conditional discharge, meaning it would have had the same effect as an absolute discharge once the probation period expired.

Grandy was seeking a two-year probation period.

Chaschin, who was self-represented, appeared by phone from Beauval, Sask., where he is currently working for a logging company.

He asked the judge for an absolute discharge.

The charge stems from an incident last year at a gold claim 80 kilometres north of Carmacks.

On Aug. 21, 2014, John Moulton was driving back to a claim he had been working at.

Once he arrived, he realized Chaschin had been following him.

Chaschin accused Moulton of driving on his property – he owns the neighbouring claim – to steal equipment.

He told Moulton that if he ever saw him on their property again, he would kill both Moulton and Moulton’s girlfriend.

“F--k off,” Moulton told Chaschin, according to facts read in court by prosecutor Grandy.

“I got something for you,” Chaschin replied, according to a statement Moulton gave to the RCMP a couple of days after the incident.

Chaschin then walked to his truck and came back with what looked like an assault rifle.

He was in fact holding a battery-powered plastic replica.

Chaschin didn’t take issue with these facts, but told the judge his employees were on the lookout for people who had previously stolen material from their claim.

He estimated up to $5,000 worth of material had been stolen.

Grandy pointed out that despite Chaschin’s accusations, there was no evidence before the court that Moulton had stolen any equipment.

Moulton has never been charged nor convicted in connection with the alleged theft, the judge later noted.

Ultimately, the suspicion was in no way a justification to point the fake gun at Moulton, Grandy said.

“Mr. Chaschin needs to understand he can’t take matters in his own hands, notwithstanding the isolation,” she told the court.

Nobody was injured, but the situation could have quickly deteriorated as other people on Moulton’s claim at the time of the incident had real weapons, the Crown noted.

A firearms prohibition will ensure Chaschin understand his behaviour is not acceptable, she added.

Chaschin, born in South America, became a Canadian citizen in the 1980s. His current work in Saskatchewan is on top of seasonal work at the gold claim where the incident took place.

In ordering the absolute discharge, Luther said he considered the fact Chaschin had no prior criminal record, is a working man, has a family and pleaded guilty, taking responsibility for his acts.