Woman does ‘hard time’ for dine-and-dash charges

A woman charged with “dining and dashing” at two Brandon restaurants spent 47 days in isolation because the Women’s Correctional Centre was overcrowded, court heard Thursday.

Provincial court Judge Patrick Sullivan acknowledged Monica Chartrand, 43, did “hard time” by being segregated from other inmates with little access to programming.

“What that achieves, in a roundabout way and maybe unfortunately, is a very potent deterrent effect,” he said in a Brandon court.

“Segregation in this case for Miss Chartrand was not as a result of her behaviour or really the nature of her offending. It is the result of a limitation of space in the jail, and that’s not lost on me.”

Chartrand pleaded guilty to two counts of fraudulently obtaining food at two restaurants — The Dock on Princess and Boston Pizza — and theft under $5,000 at Sobeys. She also admitted to failing to attend court.

Court heard Chartrand was caught on video surveillance leaving The Dock on Princess without paying when she ate at the restaurant with another woman on two separate occasions.

An employee at the restaurant called Brandon police in February to report both women had left the premises in November 2025 without paying their $88 bill, and again in January 2026, leaving behind a bill of about $203.

“They had believed that the females were the same in both dates and video footage and the receipts of the orders were provided to … police,” said Crown attorney Easton Lacey.

A month after Chartrand last dined and dashed at The Dock, she ate at Boston Pizza with two women and they left without paying a $313 bill, Lacey said.

An employee at the establishment phoned police to report the incident and provided descriptions of each individual and video footage.

A few hours later, police were patrolling in the 1800 block of Victoria Avenue when they observed a group of women matching the description.

“Officers had approached them and indicated they were under arrest, and Miss Chartrand, unprompted, stated, ‘Is it charges, or can we go back and pay it off?’” Lacey said.

The women were arrested and released on an undertaking. Chartrand was then identified on March 1 for the incidents at the Princess Avenue restaurant and was arrested and charged.

Police charged her again after surveillance showed Chartrand and another woman had stolen about $85 in store merchandise from Sobeys on March 8.

The footage revealed the women had placed two large deli sandwiches, ice cream, two bags of French fries, chocolate bars and Easter candy in two reusable shopping bags before walking out without paying.

Court heard Chartrand also failed to appear in court in May and has a criminal record that includes property-related offences and failing to attend court.

“While Miss Chartrand does have … a record for property offences, it can be noted that her prior offences don’t actually have any priors for the specific charges of fraudulently obtaining food,” her defence lawyer, Anthony Dawson, said.

He spoke about how his client has been unable to access any programming while in custody because she has been in isolation at no fault of her own.

Chartrand was born in Swan River and experienced a very unstable childhood, he said. She has a Grade 5 education and 10 children — four of which aren’t in her custody.

The Crown suggested Chartrand receive a six-month sentence with two years of supervised probation, including conditions not to attend the three involved businesses and pay all funds owed. The defence suggested a five-month sentence.

The judge sentenced Chartrand to 105 days of custody minus 71 days of enhanced credit for time served, meaning she will spend 34 more days in jail.

Her sentence will be followed by two years of unsupervised probation in agreement with the Crown’s conditions.

“I’m ordering that you repay every cent, effectively, that you stole from these businesses, and it will put them back in the position that they should have been in had this offending not occurred,” Sullivan said.

» tadamski@brandonsun.com