She’s evil, manipulative and used “social media terrorism” to ruin their lives said some Alexa Emerson‘s victims.
Emerson, the woman responsible for a white powder package scares and bomb threats in Saskatoon during 2016 and 2017, was sentenced to two years less a day on Wednesday after pleading guilty to 15 different charges condensed from the initial 81 she was facing.
Her lawyer told court the 32-year-old woman suffers from mental health issues and that it’s time to move on. Emerson stood up and without saying a word sat back down when asked if she wanted to address the court.
Minus time already served she has 114 days before she is released from a provincial facility in mid-September followed by three years probation.
The judge also didn’t order Emerson to pay any restitution, a punishment many say doesn’t fit the crime including one Saskatoon councillor who would like the city to explore a civil lawsuit against Emerson.
“She did a lot of damage to lot of people with her actions,” said Ward 1 Coun. Darren Hill.
Eight different impact statements were read in court, the common theme being that Emerson, who is also known as Amanda Totchek, is a woman scorned who terrorized her ex-boyfriends and their loved ones.
This activity included property damage, threatening emails, false complaints filed to RCMP, relentless harassment and a video of Emerson where she appeared to be abducted and assaulted by a former boyfriend – it turned out to be hoax.
On Nov. 29, 2016 – as the agreed statement of facts outlines – Emerson lashed out on an entire different level, sending white powder packages to five different locations and framed her primary victim as part of the crime.
By the spring of 2017, 17 businesses, institutions and schools were put into lock down or evacuated, including the Saskatoon Cancer Centre that resulted in several patients having their treatments delayed or rescheduled.
“When Alexa was sending these packages to a number of different locations in the city what it was doing was tying up many members of our emergency response team,” Hill said.
Her court conditions upon her release include a curfew, limited access to a cellphone for the first eight months, keeping the peace and seeing a mental health professional when ordered to do so – taxpayers will also be on the hook for all the chaos she created.
“She’s the one that’s caused all of this. She’s the one that caused the City of Saskatoon to waste over $200,000 in resources by her actions,” Hill remarked.
“Nobody would expect her to pay it immediately but certainly over time she should be reimbursing the City of Saskatoon and citizens of Saskatoon.”
The $200,000 does not account for loss of productivity of revenue to businesses that were targets of Emerson’s. The overall loss is still unclear but is said to be in the tens of thousands of dollars.
“For the court to order restitution the offender has to have the ability to pay restitution,” said Crown prosecutor Jennifer Claxton-Viczko.
“She qualifies for legal aid which gives you some idea what her resources are so she doesn’t have the resources to pay it, the court is not going to order it, they’re not allowed to order it if there’s not the ability to pay.”
When asked if Emerson will be back a court anytime soon once released, Claxton-Viczko said she certainly hopes not.
Hill said if there was a financial penalty enforced by the courts it may have had Emerson thinking twice about her future actions. He will continue to push for a civil litigation against Emerson to recover monetary damages.