Milk River woman charged in string of break-ins

A Milk River woman charged in relation to a string of residential break-ins earlier this year has been released from custody and ordered to live with her grandparents.

Taylor Christine Sander was granted bail July 26 during a brief hearing in Lethbridge provincial court. Sander, who appeared by closed-circuit TV from the Lethbridge Correctional Centre, must post $200 cash bail before she will be released and, in addition to living with her grandparents in Milk River, she must obey a curfew, stay out of Lethbridge, abstain from alcohol and drugs, and avoid contact with Joshua Anthony Woodruff.

Woodruff, 29, pleaded guilty july 24 to several charges and admitted he took a friend’s vehicle without permission and broke into several Lethbridge homes in June. He was sentenced to three years in prison. Taylor, 24, is charged with one count of theft of a motor vehicle and five counts of housebreaking and theft.

Picture Butte RCMP and officers from the Lethbridge Priority Crimes Unit found a man and woman with a stolen vehicle at a city gas station June 27. Although the two suspects fled on foot, the woman was apprehended a short distance away and the man was arrested later at a city hotel.

Investigators determined the man and woman committed six break-ins between June 13 and June 27 in Lethbridge and Picture Butte, stealing a variety of property including jewelry, electronics, passports and cash. Sander is scheduled to return to court Aug. 30.