Alleged meth trafficker in court on Tuesday

A man arrested this weekend on drug trafficking charges made a brief court appearance Tuesday, with his matters adjourned to Thursday.

Aaron Grant Hotchen, 51, faces two charges of possession for the purpose of trafficking, possession of proceeds of a crime, possession of a controlled substance, possession of an unauthorized firearm, possession of a loaded, restricted firearm, unsafe storage of a firearm, breach of firearms prohibition, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, and multiple breaches.

Hotchen was arrested on Oct. 22, at a rural home near Seven Persons by ALERT. Police investigation led to the seizure of 49 grams of meth, small amounts of cocaine, heroin, and an unknown white powder. A loaded sawed-off shotgun was also seized, despite Hotchen being having a lifetime weapons prohibition.

Police allege Hotchen was active in meth trafficking throughout the southeast corner of the province. Three months prior, Hotchen was charged with similar offences when 141 grams of meth was seized following a search of his vehicle in Bassano.

Guilty plea

A Medicine Hat man will serve 12 months probation after uttering death threats and breaching a curfew earlier this year.

Cole Bradley Lee pled guilty to charges arising from an incident that occurred on July 23, where police responded to a social gathering at a Medicine Hat residence.

Police arrested an intoxicated Lee after he threatened to shoot two people in the face during a dispute, and for being at the gathering when he was supposed to not be there due to curfew conditions imposed on him earlier by the courts. Eleven days served in pretrial custody were also counted toward his sentence.

Jail sentence

A Medicine Hat woman received a 90-day jail sentence for possessing stolen property and possessing dangerous weapons.

Teressa-Joy Ledarney appeared before the court Tuesday to plead guilty to various charges, stemming from an Oct. 2 incident where she was a passenger in a vehicle pulled over for a stop by city police. At the time, one of the other passengers was under a no-contact order with her.

Police found on Ledarney a drivers licence and TD Bank cheque not belonging to her. As well, they found small knives and a billiard ball in a sock, in her purse. Ledarney also pled guilty to not following her probation order, which required her to attend counselling for.

She was sentenced to 15 days in jail for her failures to appear for counselling, but these, alongside time already served in custody means she has overall 69 days left in her sentence.