A woman has been fined $300 after being caught using gift cards being sent through the mail and pleading guilty to possession.
Susan Kirby, 55, stood before the court for sentencing after a call from a wary complainant led RCMP to her more than a year ago.
On Sept. 5, 2013, RCMP received a call from a complainant informing them in early August that two $100 gift cards had been sent through the mail and had never reached their destination. When the complainant visited the Ponoka Sears store to deactivate the cards, it was discovered Kirby had already used them.
The RCMP contacted Kirby, who was an employee of the post office at the time of the incident, and she told them the cards had been given to her by a friend.
By Sept. 11 she was telling RCMP a stranger had given the cards to her.
RCMP contacted Kirby’s employer and they were told she was the only one who looked after the box the gift cards had gone missing from and agreed the only explanation was she could have gotten possession of them.
There is no record of criminal history and Kirby has been unemployed for the last six months because of the charges; she has also lost her pension.
Defense counsel wanted a discharge and stated Kirby was an upstanding member of the community. However, Crown opposed a discharge because Kirby had used her position of trust for personal gain. However, because there is not previous criminal record, the Crown stated fines would suffice.
Kirby’s defense counsel also stated for the court that she had used the Sears gift cards in Ponoka and wasn’t trying to hide the fact that she had them.
Of the $300 fine, $200 goes to the restitution of the complainant.
Impaired driver
After being caught driving over the legal limit, an Edmonton man has been sentenced with a heavy fine and one-year driving prohibition.
Jesse Greatrix, 30, was stopped July 18, 2014 by a plain-clothes officer after the member observed the motor vehicle Greatrix was driving swerve from the shoulder of the road to the centre line seven times along Highway 2.
At the detachment, Greatrix blow a 0.23 on his breathalyzer test.
The full time radiographer and his defense council informed the court that any length of driving prohibition would force him to have to move closer to work but the sentence stood.
Sentenced man requests probation
A failure to appear, breach of probation and theft has left one man with a light $100 fine and voluntary one-year probation.
In July 2013, Terry Saruk, 50, was given probation and ordered to abstain from alcohol and non-prescribed drugs. In July 2014, he was caught stealing a computer software program from The Source in Ponoka.
Saruk was released on an undertaking but failed to turn up or his first court appearance on Aug. 8.
When he spoke with the police, Saruk said he had taken Valium that day and did not remember the incident. The Valium was not prescribed in the dose he had taken, which was enough to cause an overdose.
While the court was in no rush to put Saruk back on probation, he requested the move and his defense counsel felt it is both in the public’s and Saruk’s best interest to continue rehabilitation.
A victim of depression with a history of mental illness, Saruk is awaiting psychological and psychiatric counseling. He now sees a doctor regularly and medications are dispensed in such a way that he cannot overindulge.
Saruk also has a criminal record showing a 10-year abstinence gap and was more active before 2002.
It was stated in court that Saruk’s parents helped keep his live positive. His father passed away in February 2002 and his mother had a stroke the following day.
Saruk is also banned from entering The Source in Ponoka.