Lethbridge Herald

Man sentenced for possession of stolen property

- Delon Shurtz LETHBRIDGE HERALD

A southern Alberta man caught with a stolen vehicle last summer, then caught again less than six months later, will spend some time behind bars.

Alan Lee Clifford was caught the first time on July 22, 2019 when he was pulled over by Lethbridge police during a traffic stop. The 1993 Dodge truck Clifford was driving had been reported stolen out of

Taber and he was arrested.

Clifford was caught again with a stolen truck on Jan. 8 of this year after a man told Taber RCMP a suspicious man and woman were parked on the highway where they had run out of gas. The witness gave police the licence number and said the couple was in a truck that was filled with various items.

Police later found the vehicle and determined it and the property had been stolen.

Clifford pleaded guilty Thursday in Lethbridge provincial court to two counts of possession of stolen property and was sentenced to 90 days in jail. He also pleaded guilty to charges of breaching probation, failing to attend court, and failing to comply with conditions of release orders.

Court was told Clifford failed to attend court three times; twice last October and again on Jan. 28. He also failed to comply with release conditions three times. He was caught driving a vehicle last January even though he was prohibited from being in a vehicle without the registered owner, and he didn’t obey a curfew and wasn’t living in his assigned residence in Edmonton earlier this month. He was caught on video by a Lethbridge business’s surveillan­ce camera, which showed Clifford was outside after his curfew hours and not in his residence.

Clifford was fined for several of the charges but chose to serve the default time in jail, which will run concurrent­ly with his 90-day sentence. He was given credit for 21 days spent in pre-trial custody, leaving him with 69 days to serve.

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