A Red Deer woman accused of robbing the same Fas Gas where a clerk was shot in an unrelated incident two weeks earlier pleaded guilty to a lesser charge on Wednesday.
Karla Pittman, 28, pleaded guilty to theft under $5,000 for stealing a pair of lighters from the West Park Fas Gas on Sept. 24.
She also pleaded guilty to two counts of breaching an undertaking for having contact with her husband, which had been forbidden following an earlier incident between the couple.
Red Deer provincial court Judge Jim Hunter fined her $150 on each count.
Crown prosecutor Murray McPherson withdrew the robbery charge.
Court heard that Pittman and a man went into the store and two lighters were shoplifted. As they left the store, police allege a male suspect pulled out an extendable baton and threatened the clerk.
Defence lawyer Patty MacNaughton said Pittman was not even in the store at the time of the alleged threat.
The mother of three-year-old twins has no idea why she stole a lighter.
Pittman, who works for the Safe Harbour Society, was remorseful.
“I just want the opportunity to go home and be with my kids,” she said tearfully to the judge from the prisoner’s dock. “I changed my life and I’m not the person I used to be.”
Pittman had been in custody since Sept. 29.
Another suspect, Mitchell Brunet, 27, of no fixed address, has been charged with robbery and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose in connection with the incident. He returns to court on Friday.
A clerk was left severely injured at the same Fas Gas after a Sept. 11 robbery.
Police said a man entered the store, produced a sawed-off shotgun and after the clerk handed him money, shot Jaysen Arancon Reyes in the face and hands. Reyes is in Calgary hospital recovering from his injuries.
Two men have been charged in connection with that incident.