Fort Simpson (Mar 11/05) - A hapless bootlegger who drove a Fort Simpson man down a secluded stretch of highway and threatened to break his hand with a tire iron will not face jail time a judge has ruled.

Dodd St. Croix, 33, admitted in a Yellowknife courtroom two weeks ago that he became upset with the victim after his 24-bottle stash of whisky and vodka disappeared from a Fort Simpson garage last October.

"This is not the Sopranos," said territorial court Judge Bernadette Schmaltz after St. Croix pleaded guilty to uttering threats and illegally importing alcohol into the territory. Legally, travellers can only carry one bottle of alcohol across the border.

He was handed a suspended sentence and one year of probation in addition to 100 hours of community service. If he follows the terms of the probation order, he will not serve time behind bars.

St. Croix, a construction site supervisor with no previous criminal record, stashed the nearly $600 worth of alcohol in Fort Simpson last October, while he was overseeing a project in Nahanni National Park.

The eventual victim in the case had access to the garage and, according to Crown Attorney Paul Falvo, "There was a party at (St.Croix's) expense."

When St. Croix and a co-worker returned from the Nahanni Park they were upset to find the alcohol missing, said defence lawyer Paul Smith,

The two men tracked down the suspected alcohol bandit, ordered him into their truck and drove down the secluded stretch of highway towards Wrigley.

They stopped along the side of the road and ordered the victim out of the truck. St. Croix pulled out a tire iron while the other man grabbed a two-by-four.

They told the victim to put his hands on the tailgate and St. Croix slammed the tire-iron into the truck, missing his hand by inches, Falvo said.

St. Croix and his co-worker threatened to break the man's fingers unless he came up with the money for the missing booze. The pair dropped the man off at the Northern store and the next day he called police.

Defence attorney Smith characterized the incident as a "prank" and said St. Croix had no intention of carrying through with the threats.

"He was an apologetic player in an unfortunate situation," said Smith.

But it was an assessment Schmaltz disagreed with.

"I find this characterization completely inappropriate. It was a vigilante approach. This is not the Wild West," she said. St. Croix's co-worker was sentenced to seven days in jail during a Justice of the Peace Court hearing in Fort Simpson. The Fort Simpson man was also fined for selling alcohol to minors.