A Provincial Court judge in Prince George agreed with a Crown prosecutor who said Feb. 25 that a prominent retailer is “sick and tired of thieves and people breaching court orders.”
Katrina Starr Roots, 40, pleaded guilty to breaching an undertaking to stay away from the London Drugs in Prince George, nine days after her arrest for theft under $5,000 and subsequent conditional release.
Prince George RCMP arrested Woods after London Drugs reported that she had been in the store on Sept. 29, 2025, picked up two magazines and tried to return one at the customer service desk where she caused a disturbance.
Crown and defence lawyers jointly proposed a 14-day sentence of time served.
“I hope she has spent the past month in jail to reflect on her actions,” said Crown prosecutor Astitwa Thapa.
Judge David Simpkin told Roots that London Drugs is mentioned daily in court as a victim of a crime.
“So [Thapa is] right to say that London Drugs are sick of his kind of behaviour, and frankly, the court is as well,” Simpkin said. “But you've accepted responsibility for what you did that day.”
Two weeks earlier, on Feb. 11, Woods was ordered to spend a year on probation for the Sept. 20, 2025 incident in Prince George. She was also guilty of theft and being unlawfully in a dwelling in Lac La Hache on June 20, 2025 and theft under $5,000 in 100 Mile House on Aug. 1, 2025.
Articling law student Zachary Webster, on behalf of defence lawyer Daniel McNamee, said Roots was diagnosed in 2017 with schizophrenia and takes medication. He said it is the primary cause for her deviant behaviour. She has also had periods of methamphetamine use, but plans to seek treatment after her release.
“She knows she needs to be on her medication and to avoid these incidents occurring,” Webster said.
