Man who taped man to chair sentenced for unlawful confinement, assault

Michael Brown probably wouldn’t have had much luck referring a debt he was owed to a collections agency, but then the method he chose to collect on the debt didn’t help much, either, and only landed him in jail.

Brown, 26, and several other men were consuming drugs in a northside home last November when Brown accused Grant Lamane of stealing some of his fentanyl pills. Brown, who was heavily intoxicated, demanded payback, and duct-taped Lamane to a chair in a bedroom, then brandished a knife and threatened to kill him if he didn’t pay back the drugs he stole.

Lamane eventually freed himself and was fleeing from the home when police arrived in response to several calls made to 911. Lamane admitted making the 911 calls but he was so incoherent from using fentanyl and methamphetamines, police could not get a statement from him.

Police took Lamane to the hospital as a precaution, then returned to the house the next day to investigate the incident. Details emerged while interviewing three other men, and when police questioned Brown, he admitted his involvement and was charged with unlawful confinement and assault.

Brown pleaded guilty to both charges Monday in Lethbridge provincial court and was sentenced to six months in jail and placed on probation for one year. However, he was given credit for the equivalent of six months spent in pre-trial custody, leaving no time to serve on his sentence. He was also ordered not to have any contact with Lamane and to submit a sample of his DNA for the National DNA Databank.

Brown, who is father to a three-year-old girl and addicted to substances, told court he hopes to clean up his life and get off drugs. “I hope you can do it,” Judge A. Lefever said.