A 19-year-old woman caught by police making a Blizzard after she broke into a Kelowna Dairy Queen was sentenced Aug. 20 by a Provincial Court judge in Prince George to seven days time served and 12 months probation.
Autumn Tristen Gagnon, 19, pleaded guilty to charges from four incidents, including the June 2, 2024 break-and-enter at the fast food restaurant, which Judge David Simpkin called “a very strange set of circumstances.”
The court heard that an alarm company prompted Kelowna RCMP officers to attend the location where they found Gagnon inside the store. She had gained entry through a plywood-covered broken window. Police observed Gagnon making a Blizzard flavoured ice cream dessert. They also noticed that Gagnon had thrown a rock through the cake stand, causing $2,500 of damage.
“It seems pretty wanton, active aggression towards the property there of Dairy Queen,” Simpkin said to Gagnon. “The fact that you were making a Blizzard isn't funny, but it leads me to believe that you were obviously suffering from addiction at that time. Weren't quite in your right mind for when you were in the in the store.”
That was Gagnon’s strangest crime, but the one that Simpkin called the most serious took place at a Dollarama store in Kelowna on June 10, 2024.
Gagnon had been asked to leave, but she earned an assault charge when she reacted by pulling the manager’s hair and spitting on her.
“It’s very degrading to have someone spit upon you and it really is a horrible offence, but I understand now a bit more about circumstances that led to it,” Simpkin said.
Simpkin said Gagnon would have been eight months pregnant at the time and homeless. The victim urged the court to be compassionate with Gagnon.
Gagnon also admitted to shoplifting $70.47 of goods from a 7-Eleven in Kelowna on April 24, 2024 and shoplifting $324.94 of goods from Winners HomeSense in Prince George on May 8 of this year.
Simpkin said Gagnon was already under a probation order issued April 7 that barred her from going to Winners HomeSense. Last month, the Prince George RCMP asked the public to be on the lookout for Gagnon, who was the subject of an arrest warrant.
Simpkin agreed to the joint Crown/defence sentencing proposal because Gagnon had numerous mitigating factors. She pleaded guilty, had no prior criminal record, is a youthful 19-year-old mother, struggles with mental health conditions and is Indigenous.
Thumbnail photo courtesy of Mike Mozart/Flickr.
