P.E.I. woman gets prison sentence for conspiracy, break and enter

A 22-year-old North Rustico woman has been sentenced to three years in prison following her involvement in a break-in and a conspiracy to commit an indictable offence. Sierra Lynn Ellis appeared in Prince Edward Island Supreme Court on August 17, where she received the sentence as part of a joint recommendation from the Crown and defense counsel.

According to an agreed statement of facts, the Kings District RCMP responded to a report of a break-in at a trailer located at 89 Leandrea Ln. on August 10, 2025. A search warrant had previously been posted on the door of the residence. A witness observed suspects fleeing the scene in a blue vehicle and provided police with a partial licence plate number.

An officer later located the vehicle, a Toyota Matrix, at a gas station in Montague. The vehicle’s licence plate did not match the car. Upon approaching the vehicle, the officer observed Ellis in the passenger seat. After Ellis exited the vehicle, the officer spotted a small handgun in plain view on the passenger seat. A subsequent search of the vehicle uncovered an unloaded prohibited 6.35-calibre semi-automatic handgun, a loaded restricted 7.62-calibre semi-automatic handgun, and the search warrant that had been posted on the trailer door.

Police investigation revealed signs of forced entry at the trailer, including a tire iron left on the dining room table and a hole in the wall behind the electric stove. Transcripts of recorded phone calls between Ellis and 37-year-old Kurtis Dylan Peterson, who was in custody at the Provincial Correctional Centre at the time, indicated the two were coordinating the break-in and discussing the location of the firearms hidden within the wall.

Peterson has been charged with conspiracy to commit an indictable offence but has not yet entered a plea. He is also the subject of an arrest warrant after failing to appear in court on August 6, 2025, regarding separate charges of conspiracy and fraud over $5,000.

Justice Jonathan Coady accepted the joint sentencing recommendation for Ellis. Her three-year sentence includes 33 months for the possession of a loaded prohibited or restricted firearm without a licence, two months for breaching conditions of an undertaking, and one month for breaching a release order. Additional concurrent sentences were issued for conspiracy, break and enter, and unauthorized possession of a firearm. Ellis was granted 46.5 days of credit for time served in pre-sentence custody and is subject to a DNA order and a firearms prohibition.

At the time of the August 10 offences, Ellis was already facing charges related to an August 1, 2025, break-in at a Charlottetown apartment, which involved the theft of cash and cigarettes. In that matter, Peterson and Michael Arthur Gaudet were sentenced to 12 months in jail in December 2025, while Ellis received 18 months of probation for possession of stolen property.

Article and image source: saltwire.com