Former employee pleads guilty to robbing liquor store

A Medicine Hat man pled guilty Tuesday to a liquor store robbery from last September.

A pre-sentencing report was ordered for Dallas James Prysiazny, with sentencing adjourned to Sept. 14 at the Medicine Hat Courthouse.

Prysiazny was charged after an investigation into the robbery that took place at 11:55 p.m. on Sept. 8 at the Liquor Barn on Carry Drive. The assailant entered the store, pointed a foldable knife at two employees and demanded money. The suspect fled on foot with about $700. No one was injured during the incident. Police set up a containment area, and the canine unit was deployed but the suspect was not located.

Police arrested Prysiazny on Sept. 20. He had been an employee at the store until three days before the robbery.

He was granted bail, and has been on release since the incident.

Mischief

A 65-day sentence was handed down to a Medicine Hat man who pled guilty to mischief causing damage to property, theft under $5,000, and failing to show up to court multiple times.

Corey Bridge pled guilty to a September 2016 incident where he stole two large bags full of bottles from a local golf course — he was caught in the act by staff, and located by police after jumping a fence.

Bridge also pled guilty to a May 2 incident where he was observed using tools to pry open the door to a local apartment building and proceeded to go through items in the building’s laundry room. He had recently been evicted from the building, and told not to be there. He was also found possessing meth.

Bridge also pled guilty to taking a motor vehicle without permission, after police stopped him in a vehicle.

While some of the offences were fineable, Bridge opted instead to serve time in lieu, as he knew he could not pay any fines.

Contempt

A non-stop string of profanity directed mainly toward the federal Crown prosecutor has, for the second time in less than a week, earned a local man contempt of court charges.

Christopher Penney appeared by CCTV from the Calgary Remand Centre Tuesday, with the plan to set down trial dates for charges that include possession for the purpose of trafficking, possessing stolen property, drug possession and breaches.

Instead, Penney entered the CCTV room, started a profanity-laden tirade and then stormed out. It was a repeat of his court appearance last week — albeit with even more curse words.

Judge Darwin Greaves once again found Penney in contempt of court, and disqualified himself from dealing with Penney. Penney will appear again today in court before a different judge — with Greaves stating that “business can be done” regardless of Penney’s co-operation.

“If he wants to be a big baby, he can be a big baby in his cell,” Greaves said, giving direction to remand staff, and all involved.