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Family comes home to nothing, accused sentenced

Court-Report-4-702x506

A local family came home from vacation to find everything, including their appliances, had been stolen.

“I can only imagine the degree of shock felt by the homeowners,” said Honourable Judge Bruce Garriock during Chad Blake Cardinal’s sentencing on Tuesday, Dec. 3.

Cardinal, who appeared in Bonnyville court via CCTV from the Edmonton Remand Centre, was sentenced to 67 days in jail and a $500 fine for the role he played in stealing the items from the rural residence.

Bonnyville RCMP were asked to respond to a break and enter after a family returned home from vacation on June 17, 2018 to an empty house.

Their appliances, furniture, and yellow Dodge Challenger had been stolen sometime during their absence.

The vehicle had been spotted in Saddle Lake driving dangerously and was traced back to a St. Paul residence where officers found Cardinal.

He was arrested and during a search of his belongings, officers found a folding knife in his pocket and cocaine in his shoe.

In a statement to police, Cardinal admitted he had been at the victim’s house at one point, but wasn’t responsible for the theft, and that he had driven the car, but wasn’t aware that it had been stolen.

A further search of the St. Paul residence where Cardinal was arrested resulted in RCMP locating the accused’s backpack which had a machete and methamphetamine inside.

Cardinal was released from custody, but failed to attend his Oct. 10 court date and was arrested.

A victim impact statement provided by the homeowner, who wasn’t present in the courtroom on Tuesday, described the overall anxiety and trauma the family has faced since the burglary.

The victims also requested restitution to a tune of $3,515.50, Cardinal’s portion of the costs not covered by the homeowner’s insurance company.

Following Cardinal’s guilty plea to theft over $5,000, driving while unauthorized, failing to comply with conditions, and failing to appear in court, Crown prosecutor Renato Di Lorenzo said these types of crimes, where all items are removed from a residence while the homeowner is away, isn’t seen very often in Canada.

He noted, Lakelanders are getting “fed-up” with property-related offences, and this break-in was one that was clearly well thought out and planned.

Garriock agreed that this offence wasn’t a spur of the moment decision, and went along with the joint submission in addition to sentencing Cardinal to pay the restitution order.

As of his court appearance, Cardinal had served his 67 days in jail, however, due to other charges based out of Edmonton, wasn’t released from jail.

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