Antoinetta Angela Pozzebon, 50, is still at large from her Prince George halfway house. How the 100-time convict was even out in the community before the end of her latest jail term is a puzzle for many in law enforcement.
RCMP spokesman Cpl. Craig Douglass said it can feel frustrating to some police members to put so much time and resources into the same person over and over again, but cautioned the public against giving up on people just because they had a troubled past.
"A few do turn their lives around, certainly. It is possible," he said. "Arrest and jail are important for some, they are valid responses to certain circumstances, but they are not the only solution to the problem of crime especially where addictions are involved.
"The question is, after 30 years of this, can you break your cycle?"
A troubled life
She has a history of petty crime going back more than 30 years and is documented to be a chronic drug addict that commits property offences to pay for the compulsive disease.
A provincial court judge once told Pozzebon that he could see her addiction to drugs "was far stronger than she was."
After 20 years of attempting more lenient measures, that judge gave her a conditional sentence.
"I'm very skeptical but I'm going to give you this one last chance," he said at the time.
That was in 2001.
Her latest last chance in court was on April 18, 2011 when she was sentenced to a year in prison plus a year on probation for breaking into a local house while the owner was at home, stealing a watch and wallet, and running up a $1,000 fraudulent credit card bill.
Good behaviour
The province doesn't provide automatic early release to a halfway house to help reintegrate back into society, yet she was nonetheless released early by the National Parole Board (NPB).
"Good behaviour can earn you what's called earned remission, so your sentence gets shortened," said Patrick Storey, a spokesman for the NPB.
In documents obtained by The Citizen, Pozzebon showed signs in jail of a new attitude towards improving her life and ending her criminal behaviour.
"You have struggled in the past [with addictions and treatment]. This time, however, you indicate that you have hit 'rock bottom' and indicate that you have a high motivation to wrestle your
addiction to the ground," said the NPB's written ruling, dated Nov. 8.
"You are considered a model offender during the current term of your incarceration."
The staff working with her supported her application for parole. The NPB thought her package included "a well-thought-out release program" that included a substance abuse initial component followed by an employment readiness program, all based from a halfway house specializing in addicted female offenders.
"You are highly motivated to pursue a crime-free lifestyle," read the NPB statement.
The NPB attached a number of strict conditions on her day parole privileges but granted Pozzebon her request for supervised early release.
In fewer than 40 days, Pozzebon disappeared from her supervision.
At large
Police issued a public call for information about her whereabouts after the halfway house reported her absent without consent on Dec. 16. She is still at large and wanted by police in a Canada-wide arrest warrant.
She is described as First Nations, five feet four inches tall, 130 pounds, brown hair and brown eyes. She has a tattoo of a winged horse, or Pegasus, on her right shoulder.
Anyone with information about Antoinetta Pozzebon or her whereabouts, is asked to contact the Prince George RCMP at (250)561-3300 or anonymously contact Crime Stoppers at 1(800)222-TIPS (8477), online at
www.pgcrimestoppers.bc.ca, or Text-A-Tip to CRIMES using keyword pgtips.
