Charges have been withdrawn against two of three young adults arrested in connection with a series of paintball incidents in March of last year.
Ashley Marie Young, 20, and Lucas Andreef, 21, were among a group arrested by police investigating reports that a young man fired paintballs at the Tim Hortons on Gaetz Avenue and 67th Street in the early hours of Thursday, March 14, 2013.
A few minutes later, police were told that four people in a white pickup truck were firing paintballs at a woman near the Boston Pizza, a few blocks to the north. A third complaint involved a masked man entering the McDonald’s Restaurant and shooting paintballs at employees before escaping in a white pickup truck.
Andreef and Young were arrested later in the morning, along with Justin Calderbank, 19, and an unnamed teenager on charges of assault with a weapon and mischief.
Represented by duty counsel Murray Shack, Calderbank pleaded guilty to the charges on Oct. 23 and was sentenced on Jan. 7 to 90 days in jail, along with 18 months of probation and a fine of $500.
He was also required to submit a sample of his DNA for the national database and is prohibited for life from owning firearms.
Andreef and Young were both scheduled for trial in Red Deer provincial court on Monday, represented by defence counsel Brad Mulder and Kevin Schollie.
The trials were collapsed after Crown prosecutor Murray McPherson announced that the charges against them were to be withdrawn, with the exception of an additional charge against Young for breaching an undertaking, which included a condition that she have no contact with her co-accused.
Young pleaded guilty to breaching the terms by being found with Andreef on July 11, before making a successful application to have that condition removed.
Schollie said she and Andreef were dating and were found together in a vehicle pulled over by police on Hwy 2 near Lacombe.
Judge Jim Hunter gave her two months to pay a fine of $150, plus a victim of crime surcharge.
bkossowan@www.reddeeradvocate.com