Four month jail sentence for shopbreaking and theft

A former Lethbridge man who was caught after he broke into a city business more than a year ago, has been sentenced to four months in jail.

Jason Frank Busby was sentenced Wednesday in Lethbridge provincial court, after he pleaded guilty to one count of shopbreaking and commit theft.

Court was told the accused had entered a northside business on Nov. 22, 2018 by crawling through a small opening used to access steel beams.

At about 5 a.m. an employee arrived at work and turned on the lights, surprising Busby who was standing in a corner with a bag of items he had taken.

Busby didn't try to flee, however, and returned the stolen items, including a set of keys he had taken from the employee's desk. He waited for police to arrive and co-operated with them, as well.

Lethbridge lawyer Tracy Hembroff said her client was cold and hungry when he broke into the business.

She pointed out Busby had resolved several other charges some time ago, but after completing drug addictions treatment he went to Edmonton to work and be with family instead of dealing with the shopbreaking charge. The matter had previously been set for trial, but when Busby never showed up, he was arrested on a warrant.

"I'm sorry for what I did," Busby said from the Edmonton Remand Centre, where he appeared by CCTV. "I hope I didn't cause too much trouble there."

Although sentenced to four months in jail, Busby was credited for the equivalent of 80 days spent in pre-trial custody, leaving 40 days on his sentence.