Brazen credit card theft leads to conviction

NEW?GLASGOW - A 25-year-old woman who stole John Hamm's credit card from church and worked with her common-law partner to steal a purse from an elderly lady in Stellarton has been sentenced to probation.
Last February, Joy Lynn Hennessey and her partner, Marco Saulnier, entered the Stellarton Sobeys. Hennessey headed to the frozen food section, where she started talking to an elderly lady about a certain kind of frozen pizza.
The lady showed Hennessey where to find the pizza, leaving her purse in her cart. That's when Saulnier swooped in to grab the purse.
Crown prosecutor Jody MacNeil told the provincial court Wednesday that the Crown was taking the position that Hennessey was providing a distraction. A good Samaritan helped recover the purse and nothing was taken.
The next month, Hennessey entered the Anglican church on Temperance Street during a worship service and stole Hamm's wallet from the pocket of his jacket. The wallet reportedly contained his driver's licence, $100 in cash and his Visa card.
At 11:28 a.m., Hennessey used the Visa card at the New Glasgow Needs store, charging $35.19, and then came back at 11:57 a.m. and charged another $45.45. She also charged $158.20 at the Co-Op gas station shortly after 1:30 p.m., and then a minute later, charged $88.14.
When cashiers questioned whether she had the right to use a card clearly marked with Hamm's name, she told them "it's my old man's," adding that her father was at church and she was Hamm's daughter, adopted at 15 months of age.
Hennessey was identified by video surveillance at the Needs location and it was requested she appear at the New Glasgow police station March 27 for identification purposes, but failed to appear.
Hennessey admitted she had a drug problem and used any drugs she could get her hands on since she was 12 years old. She had no prior convictions, but is the subject of two outstanding warrants in Quebec.
"This is another indication where an individual is willing to do anything to fund their drug habit," said Judge Clyde Macdonald. "She goes into a church and steals the credit card of one of the most prominent citizens of Nova Scotia, someone who once held the highest office of Nova Scotia, and then gives a song and dance on how she's connected with John Hamm. It sounds to me like a person who is really polished with conning people."
Macdonald sentenced Hennessey to 18 months' probation, which will be reviewed on Dec. 10, and was given nine months to pay restitution of $326.98 to Visa. She was also ordered to stay away from alcohol and drugs and from the Anglican church property on Temperance Street. She was also ordered to stay away from Hamm and Bessy Bernice Monroe.