One of five people arrested in an alleged gunfight at an east Sarnia motel has been found guilty of four additional offences and sentenced to about three months in prison.
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One in five people arrested in the course of a confrontation with firearms in a motel in east Sarnia was found guilty of four additional crimes and sentenced to about three months in prison.
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For example, 39-year-old Chantelle McManus entered an apartment in Corunna where two children were home alone and stole $50 from a boy’s birthday card.
Assistant District Attorney Sarah Carmody said the circumstances of this crime were outrageous.
“I find this disgusting,” she said. “You know exactly who you are stealing from.”
“I must say that I agree with Ms. Carmody as to the depth of the low point plumbed here…” said Judge Mark Poland. “This is a particularly vexatious offence.”
The court heard that on June 10, 2022, McManus took a taxi from Sarnia to an apartment on Murray Street in Corunna. A 9-year-old boy and his 13-year-old sister were home alone at the time.
The girl, hearing her dog barking, came downstairs and found McManus – a stranger to both children – in her living room. She left the room with an old prescription bottle containing 10 hydromorphone pills, a blood glucose meter and $50 from a card that read “Happy 10th Birthday.”
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McManus, who used to live there, was seen on CCTV and recognised by the property manager. She was found in nearby Lyndoch Street and arrested, but the stolen goods, including the birthday money, were not recovered.
McManus recently pleaded guilty to unlawful presence in a dwelling, two counts of theft of less than $5,000 and failure to comply with bail conditions in other cases and was sentenced to 84 days in jail.
During the sentencing, Carmody read a letter from the children’s mother in which she detailed how much she cannot leave the little girl alone and how difficult the boy is to suppress his feelings about the theft of his birthday money.
“Now he is always afraid that people will steal his things,” the mother wrote. “Mrs. McManus, you have traumatized me and my children with your actions.”
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“These children have been deprived of their sense of security,” Poland said.
When given the opportunity to speak, McManus produced a letter she had written in the courtroom. In tears, she told the court that she had lived in that apartment for two years and could not remember why, but that she had taken a taxi there and briefly thought she was at home with her children.
She also apologized to the mother and the two children.
“I wish this day had never happened,” she said, crying. “I’m really sorry and I hope you can forgive me.”
Defense attorney Robert McFadden said his client had no previous convictions, had been homeless for two to three years, was addicted to fentanyl and was under the influence of drugs that day.
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Poland said this shows the depths to which people are willing to go to get the next high when they are addicted to such drugs.
“So there you are, handcuffed, standing at the bottom and your father is watching,” Poland said to her. “Where are you going now?”
When McManus said she wanted treatment, Poland said he heard that all the time, but it was just a matter of getting through the process.
So instead of sentencing her to the time she had already served, he added ten additional days to give her time to plan her release from prison.
“You can do it,” he said.
However, he also obliged her to pay the boy back his $50 and to stay away from A Coruña for the next 18 months.
McManus’ other case, related to the motel, is back in court this month.
She, Hayley Letourneau (31), Dennis Joseph (52), Nathan Adams (32) and Samuel Jacobs-Bressette (30) are accused of illegal possession of a firearm, dangerous possession of a firearm, uttering threats and false imprisonment following an incident on February 29 at the Bluewater Motel, according to Sarnia police.
Police said they were called that day by a man involved in a disturbance at an apartment where they said threats and possibly weapons were used. There were no injuries or gunshots, but police were on the scene for two days investigating.
McManus was held for 11 days before being released on bail, and she recently broke the rules by being near Joseph.
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