A troubled Nanaimo woman felt jail was required for her to feel safe and get necessary psychiatric care. Karlee Ann Pelletier pleaded guilty to uttering threats, theft under $5,000 and breaching court-ordered conditions. (File photo/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Ian Holmes

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Woman sentenced for repeat fake gun robbery at same Nanaimo gas bar

Sep 10, 2024 | 5:50 AM

NANAIMO — A sentencing hearing outlined the extreme actions a woman took to get off the streets and receive mental health support which she said weren’t available in the community.

Karlee Ann Pelletier, 29, pleaded guilty to a trio of offences for an armed hold-up at the Mid-Island Co-op gas bar on Victoria Cres. on the afternoon of Nov. 20, 2023.

Court was told she entered the store, pulled out a cap gun resembling a real revolver, pointed it at the clerk, received cash and casually waited outside for police to arrest her.

It was almost a carbon copy of her behaviour on Oct. 13, 2022 when Pelletier threatened to kill two employees with a fake gun at the same business before receiving cash and sitting outside the store to wait for police to arrest her.

Nobody was injured during both incidents.

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Karlee Pelletier of Nanaimo was recently sentenced for a second robbery involving a fake gun at a downtown gas bar. (File photo/NanaimoNewsNOW)

“Jail in some ways has been a stabilizing factor, of course which is quite sad,” the Crown’s Kaitlyn Tourangeau told the Friday, Sept. 6 hearing in provincial court in Nanaimo.

Updated pre-sentence and psychological assessments showed Pelletier felt safer in jail as opposed to the streets, while she also reported being continually denied psychiatric services leading up to both offences.

Court heard Pelletier appears to suffer from borderline personality disorder and has a lengthy history of substance use issues.

Pelletier was diagnosed at 17 years old with extreme social anxiety disorder and has a past diagnosis of schizophrenia.

Her lawyer, Megan Winkel, said Pelletier was experiencing audible hallucinations.

“Miss Pelletier tells that in the months leading up to the offence the demon in her head was leading her on a journey and she advises it’s getting scarier and scarier and as a result she wanted to be in custody, and she felt safe in there.”

Pelletier has a history of depression and self-harm, court was told.

Winkel quoted a telling statement Pelletier made to the author of her forensic evaluation about the efforts she made to obtain help prior to the second gas bar incident.

“I used to go to the psych ward but they stopped taking me,” Winkel recited, reinforcing Pelletier’s intentional desire to get arrested.

Winkel told court her client has responded well to medication, has made progress during counselling sessions in jail and has been meeting with a community outreach transition team.

After serving the past 300 days in custody, judge Tamara Hodge handed Pelletier a time-served jail sentence and 18 months probation, which includes a no-go to the Victoria Cres. Mid Island Co-op gas bar, as well mandatory counselling among other provisions.

Pelletier is housed for the time being in a small Nanaimo-based supportive housing environment which is staffed 24 hours a day.

She’s on a waiting list to be admitted to a Lower Mainland housing facility serving those with severe mental health and addiction challenges.

Pelletier sat silently in the prisoner’s box during Friday’s hearing and didn’t address the court.

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