A 22-year-old woman who was involved in a home break-in and the unlawful confinement and robbery of a friend was sentenced to more jail time this week.
Terri Toni Desjarlais pleaded guilty to robbery, unlawful confinement and breaking and entering in August and was sentenced this week.
The young woman will spend another eight months in jail before serving two years probation.
Her crime spree began on Feb. 17 of this year when she texted a friend and asked him to come pick her up in Edmonton. When the friend arrived there were three other men waiting. They forced their way into his truck, assaulted him and took him to his home in St. Albert where they duct taped him to a chair while they ransacked his home.
The man was left with a deep cut from the attack that required six stitches. After his assailants left with his truck, he went to the St. Albert RCMP detachment and reported the attack.
The men involved in the altercation who were responsible for most of the violence have never been identified.
Police were looking for Desjarlais, but did not find her until April 8 when her former foster mother came home to find her home had been broken into.
The woman noticed a huge part of the house had been ransacked and several items had been broken.
Desjarlais was arrested a few blocks away after police responded to the call.
Sentencing argument
Two issues arose during Desjarlais' sentencing — the time she was to be credited and the length of her probation.
While she pleaded guilty in August, delays in completing a pre-sentence report meant she was only sentenced Monday.
Her lawyer Kim Hardstaff noted Desjarlais had been transferred multiple times throughout Alberta to Lethbridge, Edmonton and Fort Saskatchewan, which had made the completion of a court ordered pre-sentence report difficult.
"They just transferred her around and around and around."
Hardstaff argued that, given the justice system had been responsible for much of the delay in the proceedings, Desjarlais should be given two days credit for every single day spent in pre-trial custody.
"There is a great delay in sentencing from August until now."
Judge Hugh Fuller eventually agreed with Hardstaff about the need to extend the two-for-one credit, but also wanted to see Desjarlais on probation for some time after her release.
The initial suggestion from the Crown was for one year's probation, but Fuller said that seemed insufficient.
"If we have the intention of correcting the problem we have, she has to be monitored closely."
Both the Crown and the defence took no issue with an extension of that probationary term.
Fuller told Desjarlais the probation order was meant to give her the skills and support to turn her life around.
"Your probation order is designed to assist you with your problems."
During the two years of probation she will have to take any counselling her probation officer directs and abstain completely from alcohol or drugs.
Her probation officer will also be able to prohibit her from having contact with anyone named to her in writing.
