City man receives jail time for breaches

By Lethbridge Herald on September 27, 2022.

Delon Shurtz
Lethbridge Herald
dshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com

If a Lethbridge man had waited one more month before driving, he likely could have avoided several charges and a short jail sentence.

On Feb. 26, 2021, Travis Robert Taylor had been convicted for fleeing from police, and in addition to his sentence he was prohibited from driving for one year. However, just under one year later, on Jan. 13, 2022, he was caught breaching that prohibition, and Thursday in Lethbridge provincial court he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 30 days in jail.

Taylor, 31, also pleaded guilty to two charges of drug possession, for which he was fined $200 each, and one count of failure to comply with an undertaking, for which he was sentenced to an additional 15 days in jail. His sentences are deemed served, however, after he was given credit for time he’s already spent in custody, and he won’t have to pay the fines after the judge allowed him to serve the default time of one day each, served by his appearance in court.

Taylor was arrested and charged with the drug and driving offences after police noticed on Jan. 13 a suspicious vehicle parked in an alley behind a southside residence, in which the occupants were suspected of criminal activity. 

Police boxed in the vehicle to prevent it from fleeing, and noted the engine was running and Taylor was the only occupant. 

Police also found an open bottle of alcohol, drug paraphernalia and small amounts of methamphetamine and fentanyl.

Taylor had also been on an undertaking requiring him to reside at a southside residence and adhere to a curfew, but when police had previously checked on him late at night to confirm his compliance with the court order, and knocked on the door, no one answered. When police peered into the dark windows, they knew why.

“It was empty, no furniture, nothing,” Crown Prosecutor Clayton Giles said. “It was not rented out, nobody was living there.”

Lethbridge lawyer Vincent Guinan told court his client is a welder by trade and a father of four children who live in Ontario. He is also addicted to methamphetamine.

Although his sentence is completed, Taylor remains in custody on other charges, including trespassing, possession of stolen property, shopbreaking to commit theft, flight from police, assault with a weapon, resisting a peace officer, unlawful confinement, careless use of a firearm and drug possession for the purpose of trafficking.

Guinan told court some of the charges may be resolved and others set for trial when the matter returns to court.

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