THIEF GETS SHORT TERM TO AVOID DRUGS

BRANDON -- A Calgary man who stole cars and credit cards to feed his
cocaine habit has been granted a shorter stay in Brandon's jail to
avoid the drugs more commonly available in federal prisons.

Travis Findlay, 24, was sentenced to two years less a day to be served
at Brandon Correctional Centre after pleading guilty in provincial
court yesterday to a string of local automobile thefts and credit card
offences.

He argued that a longer sentence would send him to a federal
institution and that would only worsen his drug problem.

Crown attorney Garry Rainnie asked Judge Krystyna Tarwid to consider a
sentence of three to four years in prison.

"It's very clear he has left a trail of victims of property crime
wherever he has been," said Rainnie, pointing to a criminal record
that includes similar convictions in Calgary and Winnipeg.

But defence lawyer Bob Heinrichs said Findlay, if sentenced to prison,
would continue to have access to smuggled drugs, something that hasn't
been a problem at Brandon Correctional Centre, where Findlay has been
in custody since his arrest Oct. 30.