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Penitentiary sentence for man involved in assault, drug incidents

Dec 3, 2018 | 1:49 PM

A 27-year-old man has been sentenced to serve time in the penitentiary for his part in several unrelated incidents, including an assault and a traffic stop involving drugs.

Cody Wiegers-McDougald was sentenced to a total of four years in jail last week after pleading guilty to several charges in Prince Albert Provincial Court. Wiegers-McDougald pleaded guilty to one count of assault causing bodily harm in relation to an assault, from Feb. 6 of this year, in which a man was injured in an incident at a local residence. Two other men are also charged in connection with the incident. Their cases are still before the courts. 

Wiegers-McDougald also pleaded guilty to drug-related charges stemming from an incident on Feb. 9. Court heard that Wiegers-McDougald was found passed out in the driver’s seat of a vehicle facing the wrong way on a road in the 200 Block of 8th Street East. Police found Wiegers-McDougald passed out inside the running vehicle with the driver’s-side door open. Inside the vehicle, police found several baggies of crystal meth totaling just over 163 grams, a meth pipe, cell phones and about $7,000 in cash.

Carl Swenson, who represented Wiegers-McDougald, said his client hopes to get treatment and counselling while in jail. Swenson said the 27-year-old has support from family and will have a job upon release.

Swenson said the guilty pleas are an important first step toward getting clean.

“He fell in with the wrong crowd, and he wants to essentially distance himself from any negative peer association,” Swenson said outside court. “He wanted to go to jail. He wanted to distance himself from the street. He knows the federal system has very good programming.”

Wiegers-McDougald was also sentenced last week to charges stemming from a vehicle stop near Rosthern in September for breaching court orders. The four-year jail term includes credit for time served of 366 days, leaving him with three years left to serve.

“We want him to get the help that he needs in the federal system, and he thinks that he’s going to come out of there a better man,” Swenson said.

 

Charlene.tebbutt@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @CharleneTebbutt