by Jennifer Pritchett
Northern News Services

RANKIN INLET (Dec 24/97) - Two Rankin Inlet teens are off to jail after they were found guilty last week of breaking into the safe at the hamlet co-op and stealing more than $23,000 over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Judge Bourassa handed down an 11-month sentence to a 15-year-old and six months to a 17-year-old for their roles in the safe-cracking and two other break-ins during the early hours of Oct. 20.

Both are to serve their time in a closed-custody facility, while a 20-year-old also charged in connection with the break and enters still awaits trial.

Bourassa said he had to give the teens stiff sentences because of aggravating factors in the case, including the fact they carried tools to break into the businesses, showing that the crimes were planned.

"This is a serious crime -- nobody can do this and expect to get a tap on the wrist," he said.

Crown prosecutor Luc Cadieux said that the teens first broke into the Siniktarvik Hotel in the early hours of Oct. 20. There they stole alcohol before moving on to the NWT Power Corp., where they took $480.

Their final, and most lucrative, stop for the evening was at the co-op, where they plied open the safe with a crowbar and took $23,000.

They took the money to the home of an adult member of the community, who is charged and awaiting trial, realized they had taken too much, and decided to return it to the Kissarvik Co-op.

Sgt. Luther Cutts said the culprits returned $11,000 to the safe that night and a further $4,000 was found after they were arrested three days later. More than $7,000, however, was never recovered from the break-in.

Cutts also said that police were concerned at the time of the incident about the large amount of money that was left in the safe, adding that under normal circumstances the money would have been deposited into the bank.

"This was very unusual -- that amount of money wasn't supposed to be there," he said. One of the teens will serve his time in Iqaluit, and the other in a Fort Smith facility.