Letter of Support from the Princeton RCMP
COURT NEWS - March 12 & 13, 2009
Drug dealer pleads guilty
Michael J. Coulter appeared in Provincial Court in Princeton on March 13 to plead guilty to possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking. He and co-accused Wayne Sutherland were apprehended on March 10, 2006, in Princeton.
Judge G. Sinclair ordered a pre-sentence report and a technical suitability report be prepared prior to sentencing. Coulter will be sentenced in Abbotsford.
Judge fines woman for theft
In Provincial Court in Princeton on March 12, Rita Jules entered a guilty plea to theft under $5,000. Jules had borrowed an iPod from a friend, and did not return it. The friend discovered Jules had pawned the iPod.
Twenty-three year old Jules had a previous record for petty theft. Judge Sinclair ordered her to pay a $250 fine.
Peace bond ends case
Michael J. Emary of Princeton, charged with sexual assault, appeared in Provincial Court in Princeton on March 12. He was bound over in a $1,000 peace bond for one year and was ordered to have no contact with the complainant, and to consume no alcohol or illicit drugs nor enter any business selling alcoholic beverages.
Leonard Liberatore, charged with assault, was bound in a $500 peace bond with the same conditions.
Crown condemns vigilantes
In Provincial Court in Princeton on March 12, Jacob A. Blais pled guilty to a charge of assault. The crime took place in front of a local business on October 4, 2008, when a group of young men decided to impose their own kind of justice on Adam Judd. They believed Judd had stabbed one of their friends. Judd was beaten severely and hospitalized.
Crown Counsel called it "street justice" and "vigilante" action.
Judd had little recollection of the incident, telling police he had been drinking at the time of the attack.
Blais, who had no prior record, was ordered to serve a one year probation, during which he is to have no contact with Judd, and to possess no weapons. Further, he is not to have contact with any other members of the "posse" if the Probation Officer orders it. The 20 year old received a conditional discharge, but must give a DNA sample.
Donuts lead to court
On December 4, 2008, police saw a vehicle doing "doughnuts" in a parking lot along Highway 3 in Princeton. The driver was promptly approached by police and given a roadside breath test, which he failed.
On March 12, in Provincial Court in Princeton, Brian P. Freeman entered a guilty plea to a charged of driving with over .08 blood alcohol. He had no prior record, so was given the minimum sentence of a $1,000 fine and a one year driving prohibition.
Gun leads to court
Gregory Macdonald appeared in Provincial Court in Princeton on March 12 to plead guilty to a charge of possession of a restricted firearm. Circumstance presented to the court revealed police had followed up a tip of a possible impaired driver. They located a vehicle with the same licence plate number and approached the driver to see if there was an odour of alcohol. Instead, the officer smelled marijuana. Macdonald and his passenger were immediately detained and the vehicle was searched.
Police found a loaded pistol.
The two men in the vehicle were not the owners. The owner was contacted. She lived in the Peace River area. She said she had purchased the vehicle for her son, who was neither Macdonald nor his passenger. The son was contacted and said he had loaned the vehicle to Macdonald.
Police never discovered the owner of the handgun, which will be destroyed.
The 27 year old Macdonald was ordered to serve a six month probation as part of a conditional discharge. He is a married man with two children, is steadily employed in the Lower Mainland, and had no prior convictions. He is forbidden to have any weapons in his possession for five years.
Hedley man loses fight
James R. Beaulieu stood trial in Provincial Court in Princeton on March 12 as a result of charges laid on May 24, 2007.
Testimony revealed Beaulieu had called police for assistance in removing some people from his property. When police arrived, one of those people told police Beaulieu had a marijuana grow op in a garage on the property.
Beaulieu had an Manitoba outstanding warrant for his arrest, so police arrested him and took him to Princeton around 11:00 AM. Seven hours later, police returned to Beaulieu's property, located three kilometres west of Hedley, to execute a search warrant on the garage.
Beaulieu's former business partner, Lee Simpson, provided police with a key to the garage.
Police found evidence of a dismantled grow op and returned to Princeton to arrest Beaulieu.
During the trial, Beaulieu maintained he did not own the marijuana refuse found in the garage, and tried to prove that Lee Simpson had planted the material during the time Beaulieu was in custody in Princeton.
Judge G. Sinclair did not buy Beaulieu's story, and found him guilty of possession of marijuana. Beaulieu was ordered to pay a $750 fine.
Province of British Columbia Criminal Court Lists
