A judge suggested a woman may have been more interested in feeding her drug habit than feeding her children when she stole a pair of work boots.
Vanessa Katherine Paquet pleaded guilty recently to stealing boots from a Discounters store in Three Rivers and to pushing, on three separate occasions, a shopping cart of food out of Atlantic Superstore in former Montague without paying for the items.
Paquet’s lawyer said the stolen food, totalling just over $130, was taken to feed the woman’s family.
Chief Provincial Court Judge Nancy Orr noted the woman could not eat the work boots that she stole.
Paquet’s lawyer replied that the boots, priced at $100, could have been sold to get money to purchase food.
Orr suggested the boots were more likely pinched in the hope of getting some cash to buy drugs by Paquet, who has a history of drug addiction.
Orr sentenced Paquet to 30 days in jail for stealing the boots and 30 days concurrent for breach of probation.
She imposed two years of probation for the food thefts.
Orr also barred Paquet from the Atlantic Superstore and the Discounters store and told her to write a letter of apology to the manager of each store.
