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BARRHEAD - A Fort Assiniboine man received 16 months in jail after he pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, possession of stolen property over $5,000 and breaching court orders occurring during two incidents in the spring of 2024.
Justice Vaughn Myers gave Michael Joseph Rolof the sentence, accepting a June 10 joint Crown and defence submission in Barrhead Court of Justice.
However, since Rolof has already served 251 days in jail when given enhanced credit, so he will only have to serve 108 days.
Included in the sentence is a three-year driving prohibition.
As part of the agreement, the Crown withdrew several charges, including five charges of failing to comply with release order conditions, 14 charges of failing to comply with undertaking conditions and three assault with weapon charges.
The matter had been scheduled to go to trial later that day.
"When I get out, I want to change my life for my son and my daughter," Rolof said, adding being sober since his incarceration had allowed him to reflect.
Justice Myers suggested the accused should not wait until he was released to start changing his life for the better.
The facts
Crown prosecutor Francis Wallace said on April 9, 2024, that two Fort Assiniboine area residents, brothers, reported to Barrhead RCMP that their father's 2016 Dodge Ram 3500, valued at roughly $75,000, had been taken from their farm. The truck's owner also posted the missing vehicle on social media.
The brothers, joined by a family friend, embarked on a search for the missing vehicle.
She said the friend spotted what he believed might be the truck by the Freeman River Bridge.
"[The friend, joined by the brothers] located the truck, approached it on foot and signalled to the driver to roll down the window," Wallace said.
She added the person inside the truck started the vehicle and drove "at speed" toward the trio, who scattered out of the way.
"The men recognized the driver as Michael Rolof," Wallace said, adding that Rolof then fled the scene.
The three men then attempted to follow the accused in their vehicles, with the brothers in one and their friend in another, along an unspecified highway.
Wallace said one of the drivers was able to get ahead of the accused, who then attempted to block the highway.
"[The driver] got out of his truck and tried to stop Mr. Rolof, who continued towards him with a great deal of speed, then swerved to the oncoming lane past the [vehicle blocking the lane]," she said, noting the driver jumped behind his truck to avoid being struck.
Wallace told the court that Rolof eventually crashed the truck in a wooded area and then fled on foot.
"A crowd of civilians [and the brothers and their friend] spotted Rolof exiting the bush and surrounded him waiting for the RCMP," she said.
Wallace added that at the time of the incident, the accused was subject to a release order in which he was supposed to "keep the peace and be of good behaviour."
The other incident happened a few weeks later when RCMP conducted a curfew check at Rolof's residence and found him absent. Two days later, the RCMP returned to the accused's residence and attempted to take him into custody.
"Mr. Rolof proceeded to run through the house, exiting through the back door, and Barrhead RCMP members were unable to intercept him," the Crown said, adding police returned to the residence a few hours later and once again were unable to find him.
At the time of the incidents, Rolof was subject to two court undertakings, one from the April 9 incident and one from April 20, with the condition that he was to be at his home from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. In addition, he was still subject to the conditions of a Nov. 21, 2023 release order in which he was "to keep the peace and be of good behaviour."
Aggravating factors and culpability
Wallace said aggravating factors include a criminal record with multiple convictions from 2014 to 2021.
However, she said the bulk of the convictions began in earnest in 2018 continuing with regularity until 2021, which, after a roughly three-year break, Rolof's string of convictions resumed in December 2024 when he was convicted of one count of flight from police and one count of resisting a peace officer which he received 10 days in custody for which he received 100 and 10 days in custody for, respectively.
In terms of previous convictions related to the administration of justice, the Crown stated that the accused had nine previous convictions for failure to comply, most recently in 2020, for which he received a 20-day custodial sentence. He also has three prior convictions of obstructing a peace officer.
Property convictions include two counts of break and enter, one count of theft under, and one count of possession of stolen property in 2021, for which he received 60 days.
"Driving offences are always considered serious due to the risk to the public. The fact that harm did not result does not detract from that risk," Wallace said.
She also considered the accused's moral culpability high.
"Mr. Rolof created intentional risk, had $75,000 worth of stolen property, namely the truck, and to avoid giving it back to the rightful owners, he drove at them to effect his escape and continued his unlawful possession right up to the Freeman River Bridge, placing other people in harm's way."
On the mitigating side was the accused's guilty plea; while not an early one, Wallace said, "It was enough time to call off the witnesses, and it is an acceptance of responsibility."
Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com
