Break-in leaves couple shaken
By Delon Shurtz on April 10, 2021.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com
An elderly couple may have hoped they were only having a nightmare when they awoke early one morning last summer to see a woman peering down at them out of the dark.
Sophia Black Plume broke into the couple’s westside home at about 3 a.m. July 29, and awakened the couple as she stood at the foot of their bed staring at them.
The husband and wife told Black Plume to leave, and as they tried to usher her out of their home, she grabbed a purse and refused to return it. When the husband grabbed the purse, Black Plume swung at him with a staple gun, causing a minor injury to his arm. The man’s wife was also scratched as she tried to help get the intruder to leave.
“They were very shaken by this incident,” said Crown Prosecutor Bruce Ainscough said, as Black Plume pleaded guilty in Lethbridge provincial court to one charge of housebreaking.
Black Plume left the house and walked south on Jerry Potts Boulevard West, and was arrested shortly afterward.
Black Plume also pleaded guilty to three breaches for twice failing to report to her probation officer as directed by two peace bonds, and for not complying with a court order to reside at a specific address in Moses Lake.
At about 1:20 a.m. on Jan. 13 of this year, Black Plume attempted to enter a home on 8 Avenue South in Lethbridge, but the door was locked. The homeowner called police, who arrested Black Plume nearby. She told police she was trying to find a friend.
Although Ainscough recommended a total sentence of one-year in jail, and noted Black Plume has a criminal record for break-ins and armed robbery, Lethbridge lawyer Miranda Hlady asked for a six-month sentence for the break-in charge.
Hlady said her client suffers from addictions, but has had counselling and is trying to improve her life. She said Black Plume missed her appointments with probation because she was on drug treatment medication that caused her to sleep often.
Judge Timothy Hironaka sentenced Black Plume to nine months in jail, and gave her credit for time spent in pre-trial custody, leaving a sentence of slightly less than five months. She must also submit a sample of her DNA for the National DNA Databank, and she is prohibited from possessing weapons for 10 years.
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4-3
That’s a shootin’ offence…..