A man who played a role in stealing one car and damaging another was given a four-month jail term last week.
Keenan Travis Alec pleaded guilty to mischief, theft, and breach of probation last Thursday and was given the jail term. With his pre-trial custody factored in however, he has a month and a half left to serve.
Police were called on Jan. 14 by someone from the Alexander Reserve who reported that a car was being stolen from their driveway. The caller said two young men had approached one vehicle in the driveway and attempted to gain entry. When that failed they moved to another and drove away.
The caller then followed the stolen vehicle, being driven by the two men who were heading toward Morinville on Highway 642.
The vehicle was speeding and being driven erratically as it neared the intersection of Highway 44 and Highway 642 when it hit a bump and rolled into a ditch.
The two men got out of the stolen vehicle and started to approach the people who had been following them. The men then waved down another vehicle that was passing by and climbed in.
Since the person who had offered them a ride didn’t know they were being followed, the RCMP waited until they had several officers in place before stopping the vehicle and pulling out the two suspects.
Alec was arrested on July 21 in Burnaby, B.C. and has been in custody since.
He told Judge Bruce Garriock that he was eager to turn his life around and improve his education.
Alec’s lawyer Angus Boyd had suggested his client could receive a probationary term, but Garriock was not convinced.
A man with a troubling history of cashing cheques for promises he can’t keep was given a probationary term after pleading guilty to over $10,000 in theft.
Robert Goulet, 61, pleaded guilty to theft charges, one of theft over $5,000 and the other a theft under $5,000 charge on Oct. 6 for two separate amounts related to the same incident.
Klassen approached a welding company in late December 2004 and said he could build them a Quonset storage building.
He took $9,846.41 from the company over about a month-long period, but no work was ever done to the building.
He also took $500 from another person for insurance, but never followed through because the project didn’t exist.
The company that wanted the Quonset built had borrowed money to complete it.
Crown prosecutor Jon Werbicki said the Crown had agreed to a plea agreement with the defence in part because Goulet had agreed to make full restitution to the firms involved.
Werbicki noted Goulet had one previous fraud conviction from 1998 and he said it involved fairly similar circumstances.
“It appears Mr. Goulet makes representations that he cannot live up to.”
Judge Bruce Garriock said there was no reason for him to stray from the recommendation he received from the Crown and defence and settled on 18 months of probation.
Goulet will be required to make complete restitution of the money he took in the first six months of the term and will also be required to take any counselling, specifically related to managing one’s finances that his probation officer directs.
