By Keith Lacey
 |
A career criminal caught five weeks ago with more than $100,000 in stolen prescription drugs was sentenced to a 30-month penitentiary term Wednesday.
Michael Lepage, 21, who now has more than 30 criminal convictions in youth and adult court, was caught by Greater Sudbury Police with two duffle bags full of thousands of high-strength prescription pills stolen from the Azilda Pharmacy around 4 am on April 16.
Lepage pleaded guilty to break, enter and theft, and possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking.
Federal Crown prosecutor Robert Topp gave the court a detailed list of the thousands of pills stolen from the pharmacy that evening. The list included some of the most potent prescription pills allowed in this country, most of which are used to treat seriously ill patients, said Topp.
Defence counsel Richard Huneault told the court LepageÂ?s criminal record Â?reads like a roadmapÂ? that has finally lead him to the penitentiary.
His client realizes this is a very serious crime and thereÂ?s a serious price to pay, but he did plead guilty at the earliest possible date and heÂ?s going to try and turn his life around while in the penitentiary, said Huneault.
Assistant Crown attorney Len Walker said Greater Sudbury Police attended the pharmacy the day in question and found two huge windows had been smashed to gain access.
Police followed a vehicle and found Lepage alone behind the wheel and the huge cache of drugs in the two duffle bags.
Lepage was a prohibited driver and part of his sentence included a three-year driving prohibition from the time heÂ?s released from the penitentiary.
Walker said the courts have no choice but to send Lepage away to the penitentiary despite him being only 21 years old. HeÂ?s clearly a career criminal who has an unbroken history of committing crimes over the past several years, added Walker.
Justice Yvon Renaud agreed to the 30-month sentence and told Lepage that if he continues to commit crimes after heÂ?s released from this sentence, the courts will have no choice but to impose longer and longer sentences against him.
Â?ItÂ?s time to straighten upÂ? and turn a troubled life around or face spending most of his life behind bars, said Renaud.
