One of two men who disguised themselves before rushing in to the 7-Eleven convenience store waving weapons and demanding cash late last month will spend the next three years in a penitentiary after he pleaded guilty to robbery and wearing a disguise in Slave Lake Provincial Court last week.
“The message needs to get out if you prepare to have masking, you’re going to get penitentiary time,” said Crown Prosecutor Fred Whiting.
Shaun Bradley Cardinal wore a bandanna and his accomplice had a T-shirt over his face when they rushed in to the convenience store about 3:26 in the morning, said Whiting. Cardinal announced “this is a robbery” before tossing a duffel bag on the counter. His accomplice, rushing over to one clerk, then the other, began waving the ash shovel he was carrying in a threatening manner. The clerks opened two cash registers and the accomplice grabbed about $100 worth of cash, then began helping himself to cigarettes, stuffing nearly two dozen packs into the duffel bag. That done, the two exited the store and flagged down a taxi to make their get-away.
Whiting said both men had socks on their hands while they were robbing the store.
He said Cardinal was arrested a short time later and all the cash and cigarettes were recovered.
“This was a planned robbery,” the prosecutor announced to Judge Roger Smith, explaining that both men had something to cover their faces and each had a ‘weapon’ before they entered the store. They’d also thought about the crime far enough ahead to bring a duffel bag to carry their booty, he added.br> He said the Crown usually asked for four to six year sentences for such crimes, but told Judge Smith he was ready to give the 19-year-old Cardinal credit for his early plea on the matter.
He said Cardinal should serve three years in jail for the robbery.
Agreeing with the submission, defense counsel Ernie Silitto said his client, who has an admittedly lengthy record for his age, “has been aimless with his life, doing nothing but drinking and getting into trouble.” In fact, he said, when the two robbed the convenience store, “they wanted to get money to buy liquor.”
Adding his client is “anxious to resolve what he’s done,” defense added “it was absolute stupidity.”
Pointing out that the Court of Appeal has set the incarceration bar at four years for any crimes where the perpetrators attempt to disguise themselves, Judge Smith said he nonetheless agreed with both submissions that Cardinal did deserve somewhat of a break for saving the court’s time and expense.
“But this is a serious matter, and calls for consecutive sentences” that add up to time in a federal facility, he added.
For that reason he sentenced the teen to two years in jail for the robbery, and an additional year for wearing a disguise.
“I hate to see young men like this going off to the penitentiary” when they’re living in a community that’s filled with good jobs that reap generous rewards.
“It’s a sad situation. A penitentiary is a terrible place with hardened criminals and perverts.”
He also ordered a 10-year firearm prohibition for Cardinal when he’s released from jail.

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