WESTLOCK – Two more people connected to the June 23, 2022, break-in at the Westlock Butcher Shop have pleaded guilty to their involvement in the crime, with one receiving a modest fine, while the other will wait until 2023 to learn their sentence.
In Westlock Provincial Court Dec. 14, Carmen Nutt, 30, pleaded guilty to possession of stolen property under $5,000, while Tyler Rick Wells, appearing via CCTV from the Edmonton Remand Centre, pleaded guilty to break and enter commit theft, forging a document and assaulting a peace officer.
Judge Thomas Achtymichuk agreed to the joint-sentence submission from Grierson and duty counsel Gail Gerhart on a $500 fine for Nutt, who didn’t have a criminal record. Meanwhile, sentencing for Wells, who was represented by lawyer Crystal McMahon, has been put over to May 10, 2023, for a pre-sentence report that will consider “Gladue factors.”
Judge Achtymichuk agreed to waive the victim-fine surcharge for Nutt, who’s on AISH and has a six-year-old daughter, and gave her until June 20, 2023, to pay the $500.
Butcher shop break-in details
Wells and Nutt, who Grierson said are common-law partners, are latest to be tied to the June 23 break-in that saw the front door of the butcher shop smashed in and approximately $10,000 in “meat, spices, rubs, sauces, computer parts, cameras and tools” pinched.
Grierson said during the RCMP investigation of the crime they went to the residence of Nutt and Wells and found several of the stolen items “that didn’t amount to more than $5,000” while Wells had been a “party to the break and enter” and “helped steal the goods.”
“There was property from the break and enter in the residence that she was in possession of and she acknowledged that it was there and it had been stolen,” said Grierson on Nutt’s involvement.
Appearing in Westlock Provincial Court Nov. 9 via CCTV from the Edmonton Remand Centre, David Allan Lee, 24, pleaded guilty to break and enter-not a dwelling house, shopbreaking with intent, shoplifting under $5,000, use or traffic in stolen credit cards, obstructing a peace officer and failing to comply with conditions of an undertaking and received 195 days in jail and a $2,000 fine — in addition to the butcher shop break-in, Lee was fingered in a handful of other crimes.
According to previous testimony, after reviewing video surveillance of the break-in, RCMP identified Travis Jean, 34, and obtained a search warrant for his residence where they found $6,000 worth of the remaining products from the heist. At Jean’s Oct. 5 sentencing, where he received a five-month jail sentence, 18 months of probation and was ordered to pay over $2,100 in restitution to the victims of two of his crimes, he only admitted to possessing items from the break-in, not participating in it.
In court Aug. 9, another co-accused from the break-in, Angela Melissa Wells, 44, pleaded guilty to possession of stolen property over $5,000 and received a conditional discharge from Judge Clifton Purvis, who rejected a joint-sentence submission for a $2,500 fine and declined to impose a victim-fine surcharge. In addition to 25 hours of community service work, plus a 12-month probation order that includes a host of conditions, Wells was barred from coming within 100 metres of the butcher shop and contacting Jean, who was her former common-law partner.
Wells’ other crimes
Grierson told court that on April 28, 2022, a woman contacted RCMP after discovering that her bank account had been drawn down $1,200 by three cheques that had been cashed by Wells.
“He had forged the woman’s signature on the cheques and withdrawn the money without her consent,” said Grierson.
And finally, just after 9 a.m., April 29, 2022, a Westlock RCMP officer was contacted by a Home Hardware employee that Wells was at the store and Grierson said, “there was suspicion by the RCMP he had warrants out for his arrest.”
When the officer attempted to arrest Wells, he took “an assaultive stance” and “made a fist” and told the officer he “wasn’t going to jail.” While the officer waited for backup and approached Wells to try and arrest him, “he pushed the officer and ran out of the store.”
“The constable tackled Wells on the street and at that time a second officer showed up on the scene,” said Grierson.
