A man who made the very questionable decision of starting a fight inside the provincial probation office was ordered to pay a $500 fine.
John Jacques Lalonde pleaded guilty to a single count of assault and one of breaching his probation and in addition to the fine was placed back on probation for an additional six months.
Lalonde was in the probation office, waiting for an appointment connected to other charges, when he got into an argument with his girlfriend.
He grabbed her by the arm and pushed her into a chair in the altercation. Probation staff called the RCMP who arrested Lalonde.
While he is on probation Lalonde will have to attend any counselling he is directed to and abstain from drugs and alcohol.
A man who previously had no criminal record pleaded guilty to 15 separate charges Monday, including theft, mischief, failing to appear in court and obstruction of justice.
Christopher Collacutt pleaded guilty to all of the charges and received a year of probation where Judge Bruce Garriock expressed hope he would return to a life inside the bounds of the law.
Collacutt became well known to local police last year with a string of relatively minor offences beginning about July.
On July 3 he was arrested at Safeway after stealing about $100 worth of merchandise. He provided a false name to police at the time. He was then released before being arrested again just hours later at London Drugs, again for shoplifting.
In this case he struggled with the RCMP, fled the scene and was arrested an hour or so later when police received a report of a man arguing with police at Fountain Park Pool.
In the fall he twice filled up at local service stations before driving off without paying. Throughout the spree Collacutt missed several court appearances and during one of his arrests he did considerable damage to a cell at the RCMP detachment.
Garriock said he was at a loss to see someone go from no record to an extensive one in one quick stretch.
“Prior to this spree, if I can phrase it that way, you had no record.”
During his probation period, Collacutt will have to take any counselling he is directed to and report regularly to his supervisor.
He will also have to pay $149 to the RCMP for the damage he did to their cell.
A woman with a lengthy and unfortunate history of shoplifting along with a cocaine addiction was sentenced to three months in jail Monday.
Elfreda Kootenay, 43, pleaded guilty to two counts of theft under $5,000 and was handed the jail sentence plus a year of probation.
Kootenay was spotted on Sept. 17 and Nov. 3 at the Safeway store on Hebert Road walking out with about $1,000 in items she hadn’t paid for.
In both cases she was not spotted at the time, but was seen later on surveillance video and store security officers recognized her from previous encounters.
The crown said they might have asked for more jail time, but there were some encouraging signs that Kootenay was ready to move on and rid herself of her addiction.
During her year-long probation, Kootenay will have to report regularly and take any counselling her probation officer recommends.
