Robber sentenced to prison term

At about 6:21 a.m. June 1, 2016, Dawn Ila Hart walked into the London Road Esso on 7 Street South in Lethbridge and asked to use the bathroom.

The bathroom was out of order, but the 38-year-old Taber woman hung around anyway waiting, she told the clerk, for her ride to arrive. Then she bought a cup of coffee, but when the clerk opened the cash register, Hart made her move for the money.

She went around the counter, ignoring the clerk’s warning to stay away, and the two struggled. The clerk attempted to close the till, but Hart pushed her away, grabbed $120 and fled.

Hart pleaded guilty last November to one count of robbery, but she didn’t show up at a later date to be sentenced and had to be picked up on an arrest warrant. On Monday in Lethbridge provincial court she was sentenced to 18 months in jail for the robbery, plus six more months for additional charges of possession of stolen property, theft under $5,000, assault, resisting a peace officer and failing to appear in court.

Those charges stem from offences Hart committed earlier this year while she was free on bail from the robbery charge.

Court was told Hart was seen on surveillance video using a credit card that had been in a wallet stolen from a local shopping centre in January. She used the card at two locations and spent $127.

Later the same month Hart pawned a laptop computer “without the owner’s consent,” and was paid about $37. A couple of days later she was at Walmart on the southside where she took about $650 worth of items and left the store without paying for them. When she was approached by a loss-prevention officer outside the store, she punched him in the face.

On March 9 Hart stole $229 worth of clothes from the Sears store downtown, and in May she was caught outside past her courtordered curfew. Police discovered the curfew breach when they conducted a traffic stop and found Hart in the vehicle. She tried to

avoid arrest by giving police a false name.

Then in June Hart was arrested after they received a complaint that a woman was seen rummaging inside a motor vehicle. When she was arrested police found her in possession of several items, including a GPS unit, sunglasses, gift cards and a radar detector.

Despite the rash of crimes, Crown prosecutor Erin Olsen pointed out Hart has a small criminal record. But she also has little stability in her life and is addicted to drugs. She doesn’t have a home and she is unable to care for her children.

“Miss Hart does have longstanding addiction issues,” her lawyer, James Rouleau, agreed. “She has had a very difficult life.”

In addition to her penitentiary prison term, Hart must 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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