Champion man sentenced for rash of crimes

A55-year-old Champion man who hoped to avoid jail for a rash of crimes in 2016, will spend time behind bars, after all. Ronald Noel Quirion had asked for a conditional sentence that would allow him to serve his sentence under house arrest. However, Thursday in Lethbridge provincial court, he was sentenced to just over six months in jail, followed by 18 months probation.

Quirion pleaded guilty during an earlier court hearing to charges of drug possession for the purpose of trafficking, possession of stolen property for the purpose of trafficking, possession of stolen property, break and enter, failing to appear in court and breaching release conditions.

The provincial charges stem from incidents beginning on Sept. 5, 2016 in which Quirion was trying to sell stolen items, including jewelry, a camera, a belt buckle and laptop computer, to people at Lethbridge Casino. After he was arrested and released, he failed to attend court to deal with the charges.

Later the same month, police received a report that someone had stolen a motor vehicle along with a cheque written for $821 that had been left inside. Following up on a report three weeks later that someone was using drugs in a vehicle parked on the westside, police found both Quirion and the cheque.

A month later Quirion stole a wallet from a jacket and used a credit card from the wallet 12 times over two days to buy goods in Vulcan and Calgary. During four of the transactions he was caught on video surveillance.

In November Quirion broke into Earl's Restaurant in Lethbridge where police nabbed him with jewelry, cash, gift cards and items customers had left behind. He had also drunk 26 ounces of vodka and made himself a sandwich. Quirion lied to police and told them he had permission to be at the restaurant.

Quirion was also caught by an employee inside Quest Support Services. Quirion claimed he was looking for his truck, but he had stolen two hard drives worth $1,000 each, two monitors worth $250 each and another monitor worth $4,000.

While dealing with him a few days later on an unrelated matter, Quirion confessed to police he had broken into the business and directed them to the location of the stolen goods.

While out on bail, during which he was under court-ordered conditions not to consume alcohol or drugs, police found him impaired by drugs and passed out in a vehicle. He was slumped over the steering wheel, drooling and disoriented, and he couldn't even take off his own jacket. He was also in possession of methamphetamine

In addition to the provincial charges, federal Crown prosecutor Jeremy DeBow told court Quirion was also in a vehicle stopped by police Aug. 7 of last year in which they found 750 grams of cannabis marijuana.