Addiction leads to jail sentence for mom caught with drugs

By Delon Shurtz on April 10, 2021.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com

A Lethbridge woman thought there was something odd two years ago when she watched Karly Andrea Frank take her infant child from the passenger side her car that was parked on Lakeshore Rd. South, and sit it on the ground.
Frank then walked around the car, climbed into the driver’s seat, and momentarily ducked down. When she sat back up she appeared to be snorting something into her nose and she was swaying back and forth.
The witness called police, fearing Frank was impaired by drugs, and when police arrived Frank was attempting, with considerable difficulty, to put her child in its chair in the back of the car. Police noted Frank was showing signs of drug impairment — licking her lips and dry mouth — and after discovering she was wanted on an outstanding warrant, arrested her.
Police called Frank’s mother, who is also the child’s guardian, and while they waited for her to arrive to pick up the child, they found in Frank’s car a drug pipe and a baggie with 0.8 grams of carfentanil.
Frank initially pleaded guilty in Lethbridge provincial court to one count of causing a child to be drug endangered, but minutes later the plea was struck and she was allowed instead to plead guilty to one count of simple drug possession.
She also pleaded guilty to one count of break and enter, relating to a June 27, 2019 break-in to a residential garage, from which she stole several knives and a compound bow. 
Crown Prosecutor Bruce Ainscough noted Frank did not have a criminal record at the time of her arrest on March 29, 2019, and recommended a sentence of 90 days in jail.
Lethbridge lawyer Vincent Guinan agreed with the recommendation, but asked Judge Jerry LeGrandeur to allow Frank to serve her sentence on weekends.
Guinan said Frank is struggling to address her two-year addiction to hard drugs, which actually grew from her use of mild drugs and led her to commit numerous other criminal offences. The university graduate lost her nursing job at the Chinook Regional Hospital, her house and her children because of her addiction, and she doesn’t have any assets.
“She’s at a cross roads now,” Guinan added.
Ainscough told court Frank was once a responsible individual, but she’s been unable to shake her drug addiction. And while he is not opposed to an intermittent jail sentence, he doesn’t believe she will comply with conditions placed on her and she will end up serving even more time in jail because of breaches.
LeGrandeur didn’t agree with the recommendation for a 90-day jail term, and said Frank’s moral culpability as a first-time offender is low. He noted Frank has already received treatment for her addiction, and pleaded guilty for her offence. She has also never been in jail.
“So the first time should be minimal,” he said.
LeGrandeur sentenced Frank to 30 days in jail, but gave her credit for 30 days she already spent in custody, which completes her sentence. LeGrandeur also placed her on probation for one year, during which she must adhere to several conditions, including receive counseling and treatment for substance abuse and addiction.

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