DRUGS DRIVE DARE SPEAKER BACK TO A LIFE OF CRIME

A man who once spoke to students about the dangers of drugs for a
police program was sentenced to a federal jail term on Monday.

Clinton Augustin McIntosh, 40, of Red Deer pleaded guilty to a single
armed robbery charge and a charge of resisting police when he appeared
in provincial court.

He was sentenced to an additional 26 months in jail after receiving a
three-year term. Judge John Holmes reduced the sentence by 10 months
based on five months that McIntosh spent in remand awaiting his trial.

His first five months in custody were tacked onto a previous federal
sentence he was forced to serve for violating terms of parole.

McIntosh was set to begin a seven-day trial on 21 offences, including
eight robberies and an attempted robbery in Red Deer between Feb. 24
and March 10, 2008.

However, Crown prosecutor Denis Huot told the judge that he didn't
have enough evidence to proceed with the majority of charges.

McIntosh once spoke to students for the RCMP during their DARE (Drug
Awareness Resistance Education) program about drug use.

Defence lawyer Dave Inglis told the judge that his client is a
recovering cocaine addict who was off drugs for five years and during
that time helped the DARE program.

In the program, police talked to Grade 5 students about how to resist
peer pressure and drugs, alcohol and tobacco. The program was
discontinued last fall after a 10-year run.

"He regrettably fell off and went on what drug users call a runaway
using drugs," Inglis said.

The robbery that brought about the conviction occurred on March 10,
2008. A Cloverdale Paint store in Red Deer was held up by McIntosh,
who wielded a knife and took about $250 from a clerk.

A police dog was used to track McIntosh to a known drug house, where
police entered and confronted McIntosh.

The accused, Inglis said, thought the first plainclothes officer was
someone trying to rip him off so he fought with him. Two other
officers joined in to complete the arrest.

Huot said he would have had a difficult time proving any of the other
charges because of faulty identification.

During each robbery, a lone male entered a premises, demanded cash and
departed with an undisclosed amount of money.

The suspect covered his face in the first four robberies. He wore a
hoodie during the other robberies.

McIntosh was charged with seven counts of armed robbery, one count of
robbery (without a weapon), one count of attempted robbery, seven
counts of possession of a weapon dangerous to the public peace, and
four counts of disguise with intent to commit an offence.

Holmes said the "rash of small, commercial business robberies is a
problem in the community."

He said he was satisfied that a three-year sentence was appropriate.