Ring thief receives 30 days in jail

“She said she needed the money so she could get back home,” Douglas said.

Two days later, acting on knowledge from the Prince Albert Police’s break and enter task force, officers searched a home in the 500 block of 26th St. E. In one of the rooms, police found a pile of mail belonging to Curtis Hunt. Asleep in the room were Payton Halkett and her co-accused Cory Sauve. Both were arrested.

Sauve told police he and Halkett walked to the rink on the night of Jan. 20 and attempted to open several doors including the one to the coach’s office.

“He said he went to check the door and it was open. ‘We grabbed the laptops and tried to sell them,'” Douglas said.

Many of the stolen items were found at the house, and one of the championship rings fell out of Halkett’s pocket while she was sitting in the police vehicle. Sauve also told police where to find the other ring. He explained while stealing a Makita drill from a person’s truck the night before, he and a second person fled in a hurry and dropped the ring in the truck box. Police contacted the truck’s owner and found the ring.

According to Douglas, the stolen items were recovered only “through good luck and excellent policing.”

In addition to the incident at the Art Hauser Centre, Halkett was also convicted of her charges stemming from another break and enter and theft over $5,000 at Aspen Estates in September 2019. The homeowner returned to find their house was ransacked and among the numerous items stolen were two sets of vehicle keys, money, jewelry and a quad.

Halkett was on the quad carrying the stolen items when she was arrested. On Sept. 23 she was released from custody with conditions and did not show up for her next scheduled court appearance Oct. 1. The Crown suggested a sentence of two years less-a-day.

Defence lawyer Lorretta Markowski asked for a sentence of time served plus a period of probation. She explained Halkett, a member of the Sturgeon Lake First Nation, accumulated over 70 days credit for time spent in custody since her arrest after the incident on Jan. 21.

“It’s in her best interest,” she said, further explaining her client had no previous criminal record, did not use a weapon in any of the incidents, never denied what she did, and would benefit from addictions treatment instead of spending time behind bars.

In relation to the Raiders’ incident, Markowski also noted it was Cory Sauve who played the “leading role” and not Halkett. Sauve, 42, was sentenced last month and received a 90-day jail sentence.

In total, Halkett received a 30-day sentence for the incident at the Art Hauser and 30 days for the break-and-enter at Aspen Estates. With time spent already in custody, Halkett will not serve any additional time in jail.

When explaining the reasons for the decision, Daunt said she considered Sauve’s sentence, given he had a much longer criminal record. Daunt also said she felt Halkett’s sentence should focus on rehabilitation and added she felt denunciation was met by pre-sentence custody.

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nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell

by Nigel Maxwell

Ring thief receives 30 days in jail

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