Man receives jail sentence for multiple crimes

By Delon Shurtz on October 20, 2021.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com

A southern Alberta man has been sent to jail for committing several criminal offences, including stealing a truck.
Austin Ford Brave Rock was sentenced Tuesday in Lethbridge provincial court to four months in jail after he pleaded guilty to charges of vehicle theft, dangerous driving, shoplifting, drug possession, possession of stolen bank cards and breaching release conditions.
The first of the offences was committed on Sept. 16 when Brave Rock stole a 2003 Dodge Ram pickup from a business along 3 Avenue South. Police reviewed video surveillance footage which showed Brave Rock, who was carrying several bags of bottles, looking into the vehicle before climbing into the truck several minutes later and driving away.
The owner told police he had left the keys inside his truck.
After a friend spotted the truck but didn’t recognize the driver, police narrowed the search to the area along South Parkside Drive and 43 Street, and caught up with the vehicle near Highway 3, where it travelled in the wrong direction before driving over a grass median and fleeing west on Highway 3. Police did not pursue the vehicle because of heavy traffic at the time.
Shortly after police found the vehicle stopped in an alley along 5 A Avenue North near 13 Street. Brave Rock was still in the truck but he ran away. Two police officers and a police dog caught him a short time later.
Three days later police received a call about a stolen vehicle from a residence along 20 Avenue South. Later in the day the car was seen parked on 28 Street and 5 Avenue North and two men were passed out inside. Police boxed in the vehicle to prevent it from fleeing, and woke the two men. Brave Rock, who was the passenger, was on release conditions that prohibited him from being inside a vehicle without the owner.
During a search Brave Rock was found in possession of a small amount of fentanyl, the vehicle owner’s driver’s licence, and a number of debit and credit cards.
On Oct. 11 Brave Rock was also caught on video surveillance stealing two bottles of alcohol from a city liquor store. 
Lethbridge lawyer Vincent Guinan told court his client, who is the youngest of 11 siblings, suffers from addictions but hopes to enroll in treatment after he is released from custody.
“He wants to break the cycle,” Guinan said.
Although sentenced to four months in jail, Brave Rock was given credit for 18 days spent in pre-trial custody, leaving 102 days on his sentence. He is also prohibited from driving or one year.

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