Trial going ahead in well vandalism case

After a preliminary inquiry was held in Jasper Provincial Court last Thursday (February 9), a local man will be arraigned and tried in connection with an alleged incident of vandalism that occurred this summer.

Jason Pierre Medig has been charged with mischief after one of the municipality’s new water wells was allegedly blocked with rocks sometime in late July of 2005. The details of the preliminary inquiry cannot be made public after a publication ban was requested by Medig’s lawyer. Medig is represented by Edmonton attorney Robert Hladin.

The arraignment has been scheduled for March 6 at the Court of Queen’s Bench in Hinton, where Medig will be tried by judge and jury. 

Four young men are currently working off 600 hours of community service as punishment for a separate act of vandalism against town wells last summer.

Two years for high-speed chase

Tyler Houle will spend the next two years in a federal penitentiary after Judge Donald Norheim sentenced him last Thursday (February 9) in Jasper Provincial Court. Houle led police on a dangerous high-speed chase through Jasper National Park last fall after stealing a pick-up truck from Grande Prairie and robbing a gas station in Hinton. The chase ended just across the BC border when Houle crashed the vehicle into a rest pullout. 

Houle requested spending the duration of his sentence in federal lockup in order to take advantage of the drug rehabilitation programs offered there.

“I’ve done all the provincial drug programs and they didn’t work for me,” Houle told the court. He has had an ongoing problem with crystal meth abuse and this was considered to be a serious factor in the commission of the offences for which he will be serving time.

Norheim expressed a personal belief that Houle should be behind bars for longer than the two-years-plus-one-day that he was sentenced to, but acknowledged that a precedent had been established for jail terms of that term.

Norheim had intended to add a 12-month probation term for Houle to serve after his release, but he was informed that he could not do so given that the period of incarceration was longer than two years. Houle will have to pay $50,000 compensation to the insurance company for the truck, which was a write-off after the sudden end to the chase.

Hospital heist fallout

An Edmonton man who stole drugs and medical supplies from the Seton General Hospital last November pled guilty to theft in Provincial Court Thursday. Anastasios Karaisiridas was admitted to the hospital on November 19, 2005, after believing that he was suffering from an overdose on prescription Valium.

When Karaisiridas departed the hospital, staff noticed that a variety of drugs had been taken from his room, as well as needles, syringes and surgical gloves.

Karaisiridas and his fiancee were stopped by Hinton RCMP heading east on Highway 16. The police discovered medicines and equipment from Seton General as well as the Hinton hospital in the vehicle. Karaisiridas was in possession of nine vials of Lidocaine, 17 vials of Xylocaine and one bottle of Intropin. Lidocaine is a local anaesthetic that can also be used as a cutting agent for cocaine, while the active ingredient in Intropin is dopamine, injected into patients to stimulate the heart.

Karaisiridas claimed that he had no knowledge of what items he was stealing at the time of his offence, only that he was stealing something. He will be sentenced on May 25, and given his prior record, Judge Norheim indicated that jail time was a distinct possibility. After the guilty plea was entered, a number of related charges against Karaisiridas’ fiancee were withdrawn.   

Big bucks for bud

A Jasper man was fined $2,000 for possession of marijuana in large part due to a prior conviction related to the illegal substance. Kevin Green was observed by an RCMP officer in the process of what the constable believed to be suspicious drug activity in the alley behind Connaught Drive. When the RCMP attempted to investigate, Green ran down the alley, throwing a small plastic bag as he went. A small amount of cannabis marijuana was discovered in this bag and Green was found to have $40 cash in hand when arrested.

The 23-year-old had a previous marijuana conviction from his time living in Winnipeg for possession with the intention of trafficking. Given this prior record, Judge Norheim agreed with Federal Crown Prosecutor Vaughn Myers that a $2,000 fine would be appropriate.

“It sounds like you dodged the bullet this time,” Norheim told Green. “Your lawyer says you are hard-working, but try to keep your efforts on the legitimate side.”

Drug money forfeited

Judge Norheim ruled on a motion for forfeiture regarding $29,000 in cash that had been seized during a traffic stop. The money, which had been in the possesion of Ray Leslie Oien, was packaged in suspicious manner, according to the Crown argument. It had also been found in a backpack that contained ionic traces of cocaine, leading to the conclusion that the money had been the proceeds of criminal activity.

Oien’s explanation for having so much cash in bills was that he had sold a house in exchange for hard currency. Norheim dismissed this as incredible. While the judge acknowledged that a breach of Oien’s charter rights may have occurred when the money was discovered and taken by the police, he said the concern had a diminished effect.

“Even if there had been a breach, it is in the public interest that the proceeds of crime not be returned to a criminal.”

In the course of his ruling, Norheim had to determine whether or not the notes of a deceased RCMP officer were admissable. He ruled that they were. The constable in question, Peter Schiemann, was one of four RCMP officers killed in Mayerthorpe last spring.

On these conditions

A local man will serve a six-month term for theft in the community after being granted a conditional sentence Thursday by Judge Norheim. Kevin Hughes had been convicted of stealing $228 dollars from the Athabasca Hotel during his time as a daytime bartender there.

Hughes representative, Laurie Rodger, provided the judge with a letter from Hughes’ current employer and said that his client had a long history of employment as a bartender and still maintains his innocence in the matter.

Rodger had requested a sentence of one or two months, but Norheim decided for a slightly longer term.

“You took advantage of your situation,” he told Hughes, but acknowledged that the amount of money stolen was minimal. “This was small time stuff,” the judge said.

For the first three months of his sentence, Hughes will not be allowed to leave his home except for his regularly scheduled working hours in the afternoon and evening. When this restriction is lifted, he will have to perform 40 hours of community service. Hughes will also have to repay his former employer.