Woman gets 135 days in jail for convictions related to pizza purchase with counterfeit money
By Jeremy Appel on November 2, 2018.
jappel@medicinehatnews.com @MHNJeremyAppel A woman accused of purchasing pizza with a counterfeit money prior to an early morning armed standoff with a man barricaded in the garage pled guilty to several charges faced, and was sentenced to a 135-day intermittent sentence with a twist. Angel Strandquist, who appeared as a prisoner Thursday in Medicine Hat Provincial Court, was sentenced to serve her time consecutively until Nov. 25 at 4 p.m., after which she will able to serve on weekends. The Crown and defence provided a joint submission for the “quantum of the sentence,” but disagreed on the intermittency, so Judge Dietrich Brand reached a compromise. The Crown objected to an intermittent sentence, due to Strandquist’s failing to attend court on July 11 and Sept. 20. In her defence, duty counsel Ian Baird said she has “very significant gaps” in her criminal record, which dates back to 2012. The offences she pled guilty to Thursday are rooted in addiction, he said, adding that she has been sober for 36 days and is attending Alcoholics Anonymous. “She has commenced in trying to stabilize her life,” Baird said. “The silver lining to this rather grim situation is … she’s come to this realization that she must change herself.” She’s re-connected with her estranged parents and applied to go on AISH, he added. Strandquist has been diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome, attention deficit disorder, depression and social anxiety. “Her addictions go along with that,” said Baird. According to a statement of facts, Strandquist ordered a pizza to a Riverside residence on Sept. 27, paying with a counterfeit $50 bill. Baird said she was “willfully blind” to the fact the money was counterfeit. After her arrest, a man in the residence’s garage said he was armed and would shoot anyone who entered, instigating a five-hour standoff with police that ended peacefully. On April 18, police received a report that a stolen vehicle, which had a GPS tracker on it, was travelling to Saskatchewan. Later that afternoon, police found the vehicle near Hilda, where it got stuck in a field. Strandquist and the driver fled on foot to a nearby farm, where police found them. On June 2, Strandquist was the passenger in a vehicle with a stolen licence plate. Police received a complaint of a suspicious vehicle near Redcliff on Sept. 21. When they pulled Strandquist over, she provided them with a fake name and birthdate. Upon searching her vehicle, they found a small amount of methamphetamine for personal consumption. In addition to the jail time, Strandquist received for using counterfeit currency, possession of stolen property over $5,000, obstructing a peace officer and meth possession, she was issued a $300 fine for possession of stolen property under $5,000, as well as $100 for each failure to appear. 21
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