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Cases from Morinville Provincial Court on Aug. 4
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FILE PHOTO/St. Albert Gazette

Woman gets jail time for trespassing

A woman who repeatedly returned to a property she was prohibited from visiting was sentenced in Morinville Provincial Court on Thursday after pleading guilty to four charges.

Wendy Collins, 31, who appeared by CCTV from the Edmonton Remand Centre, was sentenced to 105 days in jail by Judge Gord Putnam on Aug. 4.

Collins pleaded guilty to one count of housebreak and commit mischief, one count of trespassing at night, and two separate charges of failure to comply with release orders.

According to the agreed statement of facts read by Crown prosecutor Crystal Robinson, Morinville RCMP received a call about a possible break-and-enter on May 25, in a house with multiple private-room tenants.

The court heard Collins — who was renting a room at the house at the time — had been seen in another tenant’s private room. Other tenants in the house had contacted the owner to report this.

When RCMP officers arrived to investigate, they found pry marks on the door and the paint of the room Collins had entered.

Court heard the victim had locked the door before leaving for work and had not given Collins permission to enter the room.

On May 27, Collins was instructed not to attend that specific residence unless she was with a police escort.

On that same day, the owner called RCMP as Collins had locked herself in the master bedroom of the residence.

Court heard that on June 6, Collins had been caught by military police trespassing at a Lancaster Park property after midnight. Collins could not give police a reason for being in the area and police discovered she was violating her release order.

On June 7, RCMP were again called to the residence Collins was instructed not to attend. As officers searched the property for Collins, they found her cellphone in the garage and a release order that had been granted to her the day before near the bed she had previously rented. Officers soon located Collins on the property. CCTV video footage showed Collins arriving at the property by taxi.

Court heard there was a criminal record to allege. Collins laughed and nodded as Robinson told the court Collins was building up a criminal record.

The court heard globalizing the matters was a mitigating factor.

Defence lawyer Dan Nagase told the court Collins had been in police custody on May 27, June 6, and 7, and had served a total of 61 straight days, or 91 days with enhanced credit of her 105-day sentence.

With enhanced credit for time served, Collins had 14 days left to serve on her global jointly submitted sentence.

Mischief lands woman in jail

A woman whose fingerprints were found on a broken cabin window was sentenced in Morinville Provincial Court on Thursday after pleading guilty to mischief.

On Aug. 4, Natasha Lafleche, 35, who appeared by CCTV from the Fort Saskatchewan Correctional Centre, was sentenced by Judge Gord Putnam to 15 days in jail with time already served and $150 restitution fee for the broken window.

Lafleche was in jail on other charges in other courts and had been in custody since June 11.

On April 22, 2020, Morinville RCMP were called to break in at a seasonal cabin, court heard.

There was damage to windows and doors throughout the cabin and RCMP forensics found Lafleche’s fingerprints on broken glass from a window.

This was a step-up sentence, court heard, as Lafleche had a criminal record with multiple property crimes dating back to 2017.

The guilty plea was considered a mitigating factor.

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