Blood Reserve man sent to prison for violent home invasion and robbery
By Delon Shurtz - Lethbridge Herald on March 16, 2024.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com One of several masked and armed men who burst into a motel room in a home-invasion-style robbery late last year has been sent to a federal penitentiary.Charles William Good Striker, 37, was sentenced to four years in prison after he pleaded guilty Friday in Lethbridge court of justice to a single charge of housebreaking to commit robbery.
During the early hours of Oct. 30 a man and woman living in the Super Lodge motel on Mayor Magrath and 7 Street South heard a knock on the door. When the man answered the door he expected to see his brother-in-law, Fabian Chief Body-Beebe, instead it was Good Striker and two men, all of whom were wearing masks and demanded money. The man, court was told, had recently received $60,000 from his mother.
Two of the men were armed with handguns, later identified as bb guns, and they tied the occupants with rope and duct tape, and demanded the man’s cell phone password.
“(The man)was punched in the face, a hot clothes iron was held near the back of his head, they threatened to break his big toe, they threatened to harm (the woman) if he did not give them his phone password and bank PIN,” Crown Prosecutor Michael Fox told court.
The man gave his information to the intruders, and Goodstriker or one of the other men made e-transfers on the phone. When they reached the limit permitted by the bank, they forced their victim to call the bank to increase the limit. When they reached the new limit, one of the intruders forced the victim to accompany him to the bank to withdraw more money from the ATM, but additional withdrawals were declined.
Following the failed attempt to withdraw more money, the two men returned to the motel, where the victims were untied and the assailants left, taking some of the man’s property with them.
“The total amount of money stolen…was $10,000,” Fox said, adding the couple were so frightened the men would return, they rented another hotel room and waited several hours before they called police.
In a statement to police Charles Good Striker admitted to buying the duct tape and rope used to tie up the victims. He also told police that Chief Body-Beebe had orchestrated the robbery and he only participated in the robbery because he owed Chief Body-Beebe a lot of money.”
Fox pointed out that the usual starting point for a home invasion and robbery is about eight years in prison, or a range of six to 10 years. He and the defence recommended, however, the four years to reflect the offender’s significant Gladue factors – his tragic personal circumstances relating to his aboriginal background and heritage – his early guilty plea, and the challenges the Crown would have faced, such as the identity of the intruders, had the case gone to trial.
“His admission here today carries a significant amount of weight. It also carries a significant amount of weight, your honour, because the guilty plea is coming very early in the process. The other accused individuals are only now starting to contemplate their election, which level of court they’re going to conduct their trials in, and Mr. Good Striker is already taking responsibility and prepared to resolve his matters.”
Lethbridge lawyer Darcy Shurtz told court Good Striker’s parents and grandparents attended residential schools, and he recalls his father, who died 20 years ago talking about the abuse he suffered at the school. Good Striker, who has two sons of his own, was also abused while growing up in foster homes, and he began using drugs when he was only 12 years old.
Shurtz noted that Good Striker was doing relatively well when he was living in Calgary and had a steady job as an ironworker. Then COVID 19 hit and he was laid off.
“That’s kind of when his life took a turn for the worse. He said he fell deeper into drugs and addiction, and really hasn’t fully recovered from that, and he’s found himself doing short stints of custody and now this matter here.”
“I just want to apologize to the victims for what happened,” Good Striker said moments before Justice Kristin Ailsby sentenced him.
“I didn’t plan any of this; I just participated because I was pushed into doing something that I didn’t want to, but I ended up doing it because I was intoxicated and I wasn’t in my right mind. But I still take responsibility for the actions that I’ve taken in part of this, and I just want to move on with my life so that I can eventually try and change the cycle of all this trauma that’s been put onto me, and I don’t want all this to be put onto my sons, so that they have a better life growing up than what I have.”
Good Striker had also been charged with robbery, kidnapping, extortion, using an imitation firearm while committing an offence, being disguised while committing an offence, sexual assault, assault with a weapon and uttering threats, but they were withdrawn.
Chief Body-Feebe, 28, and Marvin Blake Weasel Head, 39, of the Blood Reserve, as well as Deaken Daychief, 21, and Adam Eric Sebok, 30, of Lethbridge, face the same charges.
Daychief was also in court Friday. He has elected to be tried by a Court of King’s Bench judge and jury with a preliminary hearing, and he returns to court next week to set a date for the hearing. 3
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