Hay River (Feb 24/03) - A Hay River man has been sentenced to more time in jail for a brief escape in late January.

Robert Harry Laliberte, 20, received five months imprisonment in Hay River territorial court last week after pleading guilty to being unlawfully at large.

Laliberte and 19-year-old Tyler Green of Inuvik escaped from the South Mackenzie Correctional Centre in the early morning hours of Jan. 19. They left through an alarmed emergency exit at the minimum security facility, where both were serving time for non-violent offences.

On Jan. 21, Hay River RCMP arrested Laliberte on a bus departing for Fort Smith.

In passing sentence, Judge Robert Halifax noted Laliberte had also been charged with being unlawfully at large last July.

"You don't catch on very quickly, do you?" Halifax said. "Walking out is just going to add more time."

Laliberte pleaded not guilty to a charge of break and enter. It is alleged he entered a house during his brief escape. A preliminary inquiry has been set for March 12 on that charge.

Green was apprehended on Jan. 19 following a two-hour police chase in Alberta in a truck he had stolen in Hay River.

Green pleaded guilty to flight from a peace officer and possession of stolen property over $5,000 in a High Level court on Jan. 23. He was sentenced to nine months in jail.

Once he completes that sentence, he will be facing a charge of escaping lawful custody in the NWT.

On a separate matter, Laliberte was sentenced to three months consecutive for fraud last Nov. 15. A woman had given him her bank card and PIN number to get money to buy beer, but he took a total of $200 out of two different ATMs. That was despite a $100 daily withdrawal limit on the account.