Pair receive nine-month jail sentence for December 2022 Lake Clear daylight thefts

Pembroke – One of two people arrested and charged with several counts of break and enter in a one-day series of thefts on December 12, 2022, pled guilty last Tuesday, (April 30) to five counts of break and enter and one count of breach of probation resulting in a nine-month sentence.

The court heard Jennifer Bridges had a history of domestic abuse and ensuing drug addiction, which resulted in a history of theft to pay for her drug addiction.

The accused, incarcerated at the Quinte Detention Centre for Women, appeared via video link to the Ontario Court of Justice in Pembroke with Justice Michael March presiding. Richard Morris represented the Crown Attorney’s Office and Forest Poff-Smith was retained by Ms. Bridges as Defence Counsel.

She has been detained following her arrest last month on different charges. A resident of Warkworth, she was serving her 494th day of house arrest for robberies around Lake Clear when she and her surety were passengers in a stolen vehicle that was pulled over by OPP Officers.

Following an investigation, she was arrested for charges unrelated to the Lake Clear robberies, and did not breach her bail conditions. She remains in detention at Quinte until the other criminal matters are resolved.

After she pled guilty to the Lake Clear charges, Justice March called on Mr. Morris to provide the court with a summary of Ms. Bridges’ criminal history up until her arrest.

He explained she is currently on probation for two counts of break and enter, possession of instruments for break and enter, possession of stolen property valued at over $5,000, obstruction of a peace officer and two counts of failure to comply with a probation order.

Mr. Morris then read into the record an agreed upon statement of facts.

“At approximately 14:55 (2:55 p.m.) on December 12, the OPP of the Killaloe Detachment received a call for a break and enter in progress at 83 Lake Trout Lane in Bonnechere Valley,” he said. “The complainant indicated they were watching two individuals on their CCTV cameras at their cottage, walking around the property and around the cottage.”

He said shortly after 3 p.m., Constable Ryan Lapierre arrived at the location and noticed fresh footprints leading up to the cottage. He followed the footprints from 83 Lake Trout Lane to the next cottage where he encountered the co-accused, Jeremy Richardson. He was standing near a white pickup truck with numerous stolen items around the truck and in the rear cab.

“Constable Lapierre approached the individual and with his gun drawn, he ordered the individual to show his hands and to get down on the ground,” Mr. Morris said. “He initially refused the order, but he was eventually cuffed, notified he was detained and placed in the back of the police car.”

The officer then proceeded to follow a set of footprints which led up to civic address 125 Lake Trout Lane and observed only one set of tracks leading to the cottage.

He said a few moments later an individual walked up the laneway and he arrested Ms. Bridges for break and enter and confiscated bolt cutters and other tools. While in custody, she was searched and police found a small quantity of methamphetamine resulting in an additional drug-related charge.

Following their arrest, a survey of the area found footprints leading to five separate properties with forced entry evident on some residences. A large quantity of stolen goods were located inside a shed on one of the properties. They were transported to the Killaloe Detachment for processing.

Addiction Fueled Robberies

Although Mr. Morris and Mr. Poff-Smith agreed a nine-month sentence was appropriate, they disagreed on the issue of credit for time served. The nine-month sentence was based on precedence for this type of offence and her accomplice was charged with the same offences related to the robberies, and was previously sentenced to nine months incarceration.

Prior to Justice March’s ruling, Mr. Poff-Smith argued his client served 494 days under house arrest, including the ankle monitoring bracelet she wore 24/7 while adhering to restrictive house arrest rules. He said her liberty was restricted just like a prison and that period of time should be considered equal in terms of credit for time served (1.5 days credit for each day incarcerated) towards her nine-month sentence.

The Crown insisted no credit be awarded and only her prison incarceration is eligible. He said the Crown takes the position of no credit due to her lack of remorse or responsibility at previous court appearances.

“Ms. Bridges has attended 14 bail court appearances with no bail plan ever put forward along with five scheduled plea dates and none of which produced a plea,” he said. “It is my submission that it has been a failure on the part of the accused to take resolution seriously.”

Mr. Poff-Smith began his argument by stating her criminal history is primarily small-scale break and enters resulting in only a few items stolen and sold very quickly in exchange for cash.

Justice March interrupted Mr. Poff- Smith.

“Ah ha…let me guess…meth.”

“You are correct, your Honour and I can explain,” Mr. Poff-Smith countered.

He informed the court in late 2016, Ms. Bridges was the victim of domestic violence and a traumatic event nearly ended her life. The individual accused of the attack is currently in prison after being found guilty of attempted murder.

He said prior to her attack, court appearances did not occur, but her addiction began in 2017 as a means to cope with her trauma and it was not until her arrest at Lake Clear that it became evident the quick illegal sales were immediately spent on methamphetamine. “She was arrested and found to be in possession of meth, and I would submit your honour that it merely manifested itself to crimes of addiction and I would suggest the robberies make up most, if not all of the property crimes, and they (profits she made from the illegal sale of stolen items from previous break and enters) were put towards her addiction,” he said.

Credit For Time Served

Justice March challenged Mr. Morris for not allowing any credit for the 494 days of house arrest.

“So, we give her zero credit for the 494 days house arrest, is this the Crown’s position?” he asked.

“Yes, it is Your Honour,” Mr. Morris replied

“Why?” asked Justice March.

“Because it was her choice,” he said.

At that point, Justice March appeared frustrated at the Crown’s refusal to not only recognize her confinement to her home, but he was equally frustrated with the Crown’s apparent lack of awareness of the lengths an addict will go in order to feed their addiction.

“She spent 494 days under house arrest. Presumably there are a number of charges swirling around in Ontario because she is addicted to methamphetamine…she is an addict committing B&Es to feed her habit,” he said.

“Do you have any issue with that?” he asked Mr. Morris.

“No, Your Honour, I don’t have an issue with your characterization of her situation,” he replied. “But that being said, she has never requested any variation of her sentence to attend counselling to deal with her addiction. According to her records she does well while in custody and reoffends when she is released.”

Get Help For Addiction

Justice March asked Ms. Bridges if she wanted to address the court.

“Since I have been here at Quinte I have been able to get back into the work mode instead of being a criminal and I am doing well in programming here,” she said. “I have been clean since last December.”

Justice March congratulated her on her sobriety, but questioned the long-term result.

“You have been sober for five months dating back to December 2023 and that is a good start Ms. Bridges,” he said. “But the hard part is going to begin for you when you are back out in the community and the temptation arises again.”

He was troubled Ms. Bridges made no attempt to seek any form of counselling or apply for a treatment centre during her 494 days of house arrest. However, he insisted she deserves some credit for house arrest while wearing an ankle bracelet. He allowed 49 days to be credited for that time and he added to the 191 days of incarceration bringing it to a total of 240 days served of the 270-day sentence.

“I hope you were listening, Ms. Bridges, when I talked to you about when the hard work begins and that is my serious concern,” he told her. “You do not do well when you are unrestricted. You don’t know how to behave, how not to commit crime when you are on drugs. I would have expected you would have used those 494 days of house arrest to seek out help for a very serious addiction.

“I am saddened to hear that your criminal career started out in 2017 after you were the victim of a very serious domestic violence episode,” Justice March said. “I want you to somehow move beyond that without using drugs.”

He asked both the Crown and the Defence if there was a long-term probation order coming forward that includes some type of action to deal with her drug addiction. They said ‘no’ and he commented a lack of oversight is only setting her up for failure.

“Well, that is very sad because she is going to stay on this merry-go-round which is not going to be very merry for her until she deals with her addiction,” he said while turning his attention to Ms. Bridges. “What do you say about probation, Ms. Bridges? Am I setting you up for failure…or am I helping you?”

“I don’t do well with probation, but it is not just the drug addiction,” she replied. “But I am hoping to get into a treatment centre for at least a 20-day program when I get out.”

“I really hope you do because I fear you will be right back where you are within two weeks of your release,” Justice March said. “Good luck to you, ma’am, because I really hope you can find the inner strength to get yourself into treatment and kick the methamphetamine habit you have and find a way to ease your pain on your path to sobriety.”

Justice March ruled the upcoming 30 days she will serve at Quinte will satisfy the nine-month sentence. The Victim Service Charge was waived and he ordered a destruction order for the drugs seized at the time of her arrest at Lake Clear.

Bruce McIntyre, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Eganville Leader