Man receives five month sentence for multiple property offences

By Delon Shurtz - Lethbridge Herald on May 6, 2022.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com

A 28-year-old man who pleaded guilty to several criminal offences has been handed a five-month jail sentence.
Evan Lee Healy was sentenced Thursday in Lethbridge provincial court, where he pleaded guilty to four counts of theft under $5,000 and three counts of mischief relating to incidents earlier this year and in 2021.
On June 27 of last year police received a report of a break-in to a thrift store on 2 A Avenue North. When police arrived they found several people who had climbed over a fence and entered a locked compound in which thrift items are stored. The people inside the compound, including Healy, were rummaging through several bins, and were arrested for breaking into the compound.
Healy, who did not take anything, was initially charged with shopbreaking, but he pleaded guilty instead to mischief.
Just over a week earlier Healy had stolen a mountain bike, an electric drill and a bag of empty bottles from a northside residence. The owner saw Healy enter her backyard at about 8 a.m. on June 17 and watched him take the items before leaving.
Police found Healy after another witness saw him taking the items into a home on 5 Avenue North. Healy was apprehended nearby shortly afterward, and told police he could show them where he stashed “the other” bike. He took them to a location where he had hidden a different bike he had stolen from another backyard, then led the police to another location where he had hidden the first stolen bike and other items under a bush.
The following August Healy stole from Old Navy some clothing worth about $100. The very next day he returned to the store and stole $65 worth of items.
Then on the evening of Nov. 22 Healy was in a northside convenience store and attempted to steal merchandise. He was confronted by the clerk and dropped the items as he fled from the store and rode away on a “black spray painted bike.” He only circled the parking lot, however, and began yelling at the clerk, who was talking to police on the phone. Healy grabbed a rock and threw it through the window of a van belonging to the business, then dropped the bike and took off. He was later identified through video surveillance.
When he was arrested and subsequently searched, police found him in possession of various bank cards, which, along with other documents, had been stolen earlier in the evening during a break-in to a car.
Then earlier this year, at about 11 p.m. on Feb. 20, a woman working in a restaurant called police to report that her car had been broken into. Healy, who had smashed a rear passenger window, was still inside the vehicle when police arrived. They found him with a broken methamphetamine pipe, as well as about $20 in cash he had taken from the car.
Lethbridge lawyer Darcy Shurtz told court his client lives on the streets and struggles with addictions, which have contributed to his criminal activities.
“He understands his addiction and is hoping to get it under control,” Shurtz said, adding that he also hopes to engage community support services that will help him find a stable place to live.
In addition to his jail sentence, for which Healy was given 83 days credit for time he already spent in custody, he will also be on probation for one year after he is released.

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