by Chris Meyers Almey
Northern News Services

NNSL (May 23/97) - A Rae man struck out in three crimes he committed in Yellowknife in a short period of time and wound up with 12 months in jail in territorial court last week.

In a strange set of circumstances, three people who had property stolen -- a violin, guitar and luggage -- all recovered their property.

The violin was a family heirloom that disappeared April 20, Crown prosecutor Sandra Aitken told Judge Michel Bourassa.

The woman who owned it tracked it down to a second-hand store and paid $30 to get it back. But Eddie Washie, a father of seven who lives in Rae, had signed his name on the bill of sale, telling the store he needed money to get back to Rae.

On May 2 Washie was picked up by a driver at the Trapper's Spiritual Centre just outside Yellowknife.

He asked the driver to wait a second and ran into the bush to retrieve a bag.

The driver dropped Washie off at a tavern on the way to Rae and eventually returned to the spiritual centre, where a woman told him her bag had gone missing.

On May 9 Washie sold a guitar which didn't belong to him for $60 to buy liquor. That was tracked down too.

Aitken said Washie had 38 convictions going back to 1961 for property-related criminal offences and stole things to get money top buy liquor.

The judge sentenced Washie to three separate four-month jail terms to be served one after the other for theft and possession of stolen property.