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Man gets five years for robberies

Oct 1, 2010 | 1:11 PM

Lance Daniels will spend the next five years in the Saskatchewan penitentiary.

He sat in provincial court Sept. 24 facing changes surrounding two robberies in Prince Albert and an attempted robbery in Kinistino. He pleaded guilty to all three incidents.

Crown prosecutor, Michael Pilon, said Daniels was arrested Sept. 17 on the attempted robbery charges. While talking with police he admitted to the two Prince Albert robberies, which were still under investigation at the time.

He had his Kinistino charges moved to Prince Albert for the court appearance.

“It was a little surprising,” Pilon said, about the guilty plea.

“He chalked it up to drug addiction and the fact that he was going through some pretty serious withdrawals. He wanted to get this wrapped up and I guess on the road to attempting to (get) clean.”

Pilon said the sentence was a joint submission between himself and the defense to Judge Stephen Carter. He told Daniels’ defense that five years was the best the Crown could do.

In total Daniels made off with about $200 from each the Co-op gas station, on First Avenue East, and the Ultra Cuts, in Prince Albert’s West Hill mall. He attempted to rob Weidner`s Fine Foods in Kinistino. All three robberies took place in September.

His weapon of choice was a knife in two of the incidents, but at the Co-op he threatened staff with two syringes.

“With some of these people you don’t know if they have HIV or hepatitis or some other kind of contagious diseases that could be transferred if he used the syringe,” said Pilon explaining a syringe as a weapon can cause more fear than a knife.

According to Pilon, the case went through the justice much quicker than usual.

“It was definitely a little unusual, but very, very acceptable that he wanted to get it done all quickly.”

klavoie@rawlco.com