Amanda Vaughan
Northern News Services
Published Friday, November 23, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - A 26-year-old Yellowknife man was sentenced to 14 months in jail after he failed to convince the owner of the home he had just broken into that he was the plumber.

Stanley Ameralik pleaded guilty in territorial court to two charges of breaking into homes, the first of which occurred on Sept. 20, 2007.

The home was the condo of a Yellowknife lawyer, who returned to find Ameralik in his laundry room.

Crown counsel Brendan Gaunt said Ameralik tried to tell the victim that he was the plumber.

However, the victim had not been aware of any maintenance notices from building management, and became suspicious and called the police.

"The accused later admitted that he had broken in by trying doors in the building, looking for one that was unlocked," said Gaunt.

The victim reported that he had left the door to his unit contained in a downtown condo tower unlocked, intending to only be away for a short period of time, according to Gaunt.

The second charge was in relation to another break-in Oct. 12 at a home on Trail's End Road, in which the accused was caught after a resident of the neighbourhood noticed him loitering on the street and called the RCMP.

"The accused would like the court to note that he was under the influence of crack cocaine at that time," said defence lawyer Stephen Shabala.

Judge L.J. Wenden took note of Ameralik's record, which the Crown had referred to as "troubling."

"He has 29 prior convictions, 17 of which are property-related," Gaunt had told the court.

"You're not very good at this, you get caught all the time," Wenden told Ameralik.

He sentenced Ameralik to eight months and six months, respectively, on the two counts, to be served consecutively for a total of 14 months.

He will be entered into the RCMP's DNA database, and during his probation he will have to stay away from both of the residences he entered.