Bar patron recognizes man wanted in Sask., leading police to his arrest

A sharp-eyed person at a local sports bar ultimately led police to arresting a man wanted by Saskatchewan RCMP, the Medicine Hat court heard Thursday during a sentencing.

Shawn Pennington, 36, appeared by closedcircuit TV from the Medicine Hat Remand Centre, entering guilty pleas to multiple charges over stolen property, and was sentenced to eight months in jail.

According to the agreed statement of facts, police were contacted on Nov. 20, 2017 by a person at the Scoreboard sports bar who thought they had observed a man there who matched the description of Pennington that had been in a press release put out by the Kindersley RCMP.

Police attended to the bar, and in the parking lot identified a stolen Ford F350 with stolen plates out of Saskatchewan. Pennington was located and detained, and in his possession were found keys that belonged to the stolen vehicle.

Police found in Pennington’s possession a stolen credit card, a garbage bag with mail addressed to other people and two stolen ATB financial cheque books.

Charges from Edmonton were also waived in to be dealt with, with Pennington pleading guilty to breaching an undertaking to not leave the province of Saskatchewan after he was arrested in Feb. 23, 2015 by police in Edmonton who pulled him over when he was driving a red Buick Regal with a smashed front window that appeared to be stolen.

Pennington also pled guilty to failing to appear in docket court in Edmonton.

Defence counsel told the court the charges come from Pennington’s struggle with addictions. He has outstanding charges in Saskatchewan that have to be dealt with, but counsel said he hopes to get into drug treatment court in Saskatchewan, and to get his life back on track.

Due to time spent in custody, Pennington has 129 days left of his sentence.