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Guilty pleas coming on some charges against woman

Guilty pleas are being negotiated on a least some of the charges facing a Red Deer woman who has been arrested three times this year on drug-related offences.

Guilty pleas are being negotiated on a least some of the charges facing a Red Deer woman who has been arrested three times this year on drug-related offences.

Currently in custody, Alexa Czerniak, 27, was first arrested in mid-January and charged with trafficking cocaine.

She was arrested again on Feb. 7 by Red Deer City RCMP, who were following up on a drug investigation that resulted in a raid in an apartment at 63rd Street and 69th Avenue.

Police allege that officers saw a woman conduct a drug transaction from a vehicle, but she drove away when an attempt was made to arrest her, striking a police car with her vehicle before she was stopped and taken into custody.

Two men were arrested in the apartment, where police allege finding quantities of illegal drugs, including powder cocaine, crack cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine, along with a significant but undisclosed quantity of cash.

Released on a recognizance, Czerniak was arrested again on March 8 and charged with additional drug offences, as well as breaching conditions of her earlier release.

Charges against her include trafficking narcotics, possession of drugs for trafficking, possession of the proceeds of crime, dangerous driving, flight from police, resisting arrest, theft, assault, unlawful confinement and breaching conditions of her release.

In Red Deer provincial court on Tuesday, defence counsel Luke Kurata said Czerniak is prepared to go to trial on some of the charges and will plead guilty to others.

Kurata said he was not prepared to speak to the charges on Wednesday afternoon, however, because he was suffering the effects of a dental procedure and felt he could not fairly represent his client as a result.

He and his client are to return to court on the afternoon of May 28.

Also charged in the Feb. 7 raid were Ryan Karol, 30, and Calgary resident Daniel Apetrea, 34.

Apetrea pleaded guilty on Wednesday to three counts of breaching conditions of a recognizance.

Crown prosecutor Dave Inglis said that, while he was arrested in the apartment, he was not considered to be part of the drug activities that were based there.

Apetrea, whose criminal record includes more that 100 previous convictions, was ordered to serve five months in jail, minus 98 days credit for the time he has spent in remand since his arrest.

Karol was charged with possession of narcotics for trafficking, simple possession and possession of the proceeds of crime.

Karol is to return to court on May 28 to enter pleas on those charges, as well as drug charges laid on March 27 after police raided house on 45th Avenue and 50th Street in Red Deer.

bkossowan@www.reddeeradvocate.com