WESTLOCK – A southern-Alberta man with a long history of drug abuse who fled police in a stolen truck and then hid in the woods to evade capture, faces six months behind bars and a further one-year driving ban.
Appearing in Westlock Provincial Court June 22 via CCTV from the Edmonton Remand Centre, Robby Noel, pleaded guilty to possession of stolen property over $5,000, flight from police, operating a motor vehicle while prohibited and failing to comply with conditions of a release order.
Judge Michèle Collinson, who offered Noel “courage and strength” and said he needs to tackle his drug addiction “one day at a time”, agreed to a joint sentence submission of 18 months in jail and a one-year driving ban. The judge also declined to impose a victim fine surcharge, while Crown prosecutor Barry Loutit withdrew additional charges of possession of stolen property under $5,000 and failing to comply with conditions of a release order.
Defence lawyer Richard Forbes said Noel’s criminal behaviour was a direct result of his drug use and “he wants to leave that life behind.” Loutit noted Noel has four driving while disqualified and five possession of stolen property convictions on his criminal record, although the charges in many cases are separated by years when Noel was sober — Forbes said his client currently faces numerous charges from other jurisdictions.
“You won’t necessarily hear me say good luck, but what I am going to offer you is courage and strength, because that’s actually what you need,” said Judge Collinson. “Every day will be a new day to make a better choice.”
Noel, who at times appeared on the verge of tears, said he first became addicted OxyContin when it was prescribed by a doctor following a motorcycle accident, then he transitioned to methamphetamine. He told the judge he even led a Narcotics Anonymous group for several years before falling off the wagon and then “made a lot of bad choices along the way.”
“I absolutely now have the will and the want to stop,” said Noel. “I just want to apologize to all of the people for my bad choices.”
Loutit told court that on June 13, Westlock RCMP got a call around 8:20 a.m. that a pick up truck with no licence plate was on the side of a range road — when police got there Noel was asleep behind the wheel, while his niece was asleep on the passenger seat.
“The RCMP officer began knocking on the driver’s side window to wake the accused up. The officer asked him to roll down the window and he said it didn’t work. He eventually found the key to the truck and started it and pulled away from the officer down the range road at a high rate of speed,” said Loutit, noting the officer followed only briefly, then discontinued the pursuit.
About 40 minutes later RCMP got another call on the truck — this time Noel and his niece had stopped at another rural property and attempted to steal gas.
“By the time police arrived the suspects were gone, but a resident provided pictures of them,” said Loutit.
Finally, at 9:20 a.m., the pair arrived at another rural property, then abandoned the truck and fled into nearby woods.
“A police service dog attended and conducted a track into the wooded area which led to the pair who were hiding behind some fallen logs and were arrested.”
Court heard that drug paraphernalia was found in the truck, which had been stolen June 6 in Cochrane, and in the area where the pair were arrested.
