SWIFT CURRENT, Sask. — A Saskatchewan woman who along with her husband tried to fake his death has received a six-month conditional sentence that includes four months of house arrest.
Michelle Ross of Swift Current pleaded guilty on Monday to public mischief and to obstructing a police officer.
Her husband, John Malcolm Ross, pleaded guilty to the same charges last fall and was sentenced to three months in jail.
Court heard Ross believed if police thought he was dead, he would avoid prosecution on outstanding sex charges in Manitoba.
Police got a call last August that Ross was missing, and an extensive search that included a plane and underwater team went on for several days.
Officers eventually found him at a home in Tompkins, Sask.
Court records show John Ross had pleaded guilty to sexual interference in Winnipeg on April 25 and sentencing had been set for September.
"In this day and age, it is very difficult to disappear completely,'' RCMP Sgt. Scott Hunter said at the time of John Ross's sentencing. "It's just delaying the inevitable.''
The search for Ross cost taxpayers a lot of money, Hunter added.
Michelle Ross has been ordered to pay $10,000 to the Search and Rescue Saskatchewan Association of Volunteers to repay the costs of their search.
