A woman the Crown once called a “social parasite” pleaded guilty to stealing Christmas parcels and mail Monday and was sentenced to six months of house arrest and probation.

Lisa Medeiros, 25, pleaded guilty to several charges in provincial court, including possession of stolen property and identity theft.

She was arrested after a Sahali resident saw a woman run out of a stopped car on Dec. 29, 2010, to a neighbouring house and grab a package from the front door.

Police tracked the car to Medeiros. At her home, officers found several stolen packages and many pieces of mail, including other people’s financial statements, credit cards and utility bills.

Prosecutor Tim Livingston said investigators also found a notebook in which Medeiros was recording people’s names and other relevant financial information, apparently for the purpose of building profiles sufficient to be used to steal identities.

“These were offences that cut to the core of how society works,” Livingston told the court, adding identity theft puts at risk the banking and financial systems people rely on.

The Crown asked the court to impose an 18-month conditional sentence with six months of house arrest, to be followed by 12 months of probation.

Defence lawyer Chris Thompson told the court his client was addicted to crack cocaine but has been clean for several months.

She accepts the consequences for her actions, and wants to take her punishment and move on, he said.

Judge Stephen Harrison warned the woman that failure to abide by the terms of the conditional sentence could see her jailed for the duration of the sentence.

“You are holding the keys to your own jail cell here,” Harrison said.

He also had harsh words for the crimes, noting the sophisticated way in which she assembled people’s personal information.

“People have a right to live their lives without (someone) stealing their identity and their property, and ruining their credit. It’s not right,” he said.

Medeiros has a criminal record for similar offences. Livingston called Medeiros a social parasite when the woman sought her release from jail after her arrest.