Man charged in violent motel robbery sent to prison

By Delon Shurtz - Lethbridge Herald on July 10, 2024.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com

Another of several armed and masked men who burst into a motel room in a home-invasion-style robbery late last year has been sent to a federal penitentiary.

Marvin Blake Weasel Head was sentenced to four years in prison after he pleaded guilty Tuesday in Lethbridge court of justice to a single charge of housebreaking to commit robbery. He is the second accused to receive a four-year sentence; Charles William Good Striker was sentenced last March after he pleaded guilty to the same charge.

Crown Prosecutor Michael Fox told court that during the early hours of Oct. 30 a man and woman living in the Super Lodge motel on Mayor Magrath Drive and 7 Street South heard a knock on the door. When the man answered the door he expected to see his brother-in-law, Fabian Chief Body-Beebe. Instead Good Striker, Weasel Head and another man entered the room and demanded money. The man, court was told, had recently received $60,000 from his mother and had about $32,000 left.

Two of the men were armed with handguns, later identified as bb guns, and they tied the hotel occupants with rope and duct tape, and demanded the man’s cell phone password.

“(The man) was punched in the face, a hot clothes iron was held near the back of his head, they threatened to break his big toe and they threatened to harm (the woman) if he did not give them his phone password and banking PIN,” Fox said.

The man gave his information to the intruders, and Goodstriker or one of the other men made e-transfers on the phone. When they reached the limit permitted by the bank, they forced their victim to call the bank to increase the limit. When they reached the new limit, one of the intruders forced the victim to accompany him to the bank to withdraw more money from the ATM, but additional withdrawals were declined.

Meanwhile, the woman was still tied up in the hotel room with Good Striker and the third intruder.

Following the failed attempt to withdraw more money, the two men returned to the motel, where the victims were untied and the assailants left, taking some of the man’s property with them.

“The total amount of money stolen…was $10,000,” Fox said, adding the couple were so frightened the men would return, they rented another hotel room and waited several hours before they called police.

In a statement to police Weasel Head admitted to participating in the robbery. He said Chief Body-Beebe had orchestrated the robbery and he only participated in the robbery because he was provided drugs.

“Marvin Weasel Head was high on drugs during the robbery,” Fox noted.

Lethbridge lawyer Ingrid Hess told court the relatively low prison sentence partly reflects Weasel Head’s tragic background, particularly growing up as an indigenous man and suffering from what are known as Gladue factors, which include discrimination, physical abuse, separation from culture or family, and drug and alcohol abuse.

Although sentenced to four years in a federal penitentiary, Weasel Head was credited time he has already spent in remand custody, leaving him with a sentence of slightly more than three years and seven months. He is prohibited from possessing weapons for 10 years, and he must submit a sample of his DNA for the National DNA Data Bank. He is also prohibited from contacting Chief Body-Beebe and another accused, Deaken Day Chief, both of whom were also charged in connection to the robbery and whose matters are still before the court.

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