{"id":133570,"date":"2023-03-03T15:57:46","date_gmt":"2023-03-03T20:57:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/rwddev\/?p=133570"},"modified":"2023-03-04T08:12:22","modified_gmt":"2023-03-04T13:12:22","slug":"huntsville-woman-sentenced-in-mark-sweet-death-cover-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/huntsville-woman-sentenced-in-mark-sweet-death-cover-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Huntsville woman sentenced in Mark Sweet death cover-up"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of three people implicated in the death of Mark Sweet and the subsequent cover-up was sentenced in a Bracebridge courtroom earlier today.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/broadstreet-zone><\/strong><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Lana MacDonald 54, was sentenced to nine months of house arrest and another six months under curfew. Last month she plead guilty to being an accessory to indignity to a human body after the fact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark Sweet, 58, of Novar was reported missing to the Huntsville OPP in November of 2021. His burnt remains were found by police at a Gryffin Lodge Rd property in Huntsville the following month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MacDonald was subsequently charged, along with the property owner Richard Pitt, 57, of Huntsville and Matthew Sturgess 38, also of Huntsville. Both of the men have also pleaded guilty. Today Sturgess\u2019 sentencing was put over until March 14 and Pitt\u2019s sentencing hearing is set for March 17.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All three individuals admitted to an agreed statement of facts during their January appearance in a Bracebridge courtroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Court heard that a tip to police led them to Pitt\u2019s property but he originally denied any knowledge of Sweet\u2019s whereabouts. However the officer noticed the human remains and an arrest was made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Court heard that Sweet was a taxi driver in the area and would sometimes take Pitt to receive methadone. Sweet went to Pitt\u2019s home in November of 2021 and the two men did fentanyl and crack cocaine, according to the statement of facts. The court heard that Sweet overdosed at Pitt\u2019s residence, but Pitt did not attempt to contact emergency services. Evidence later determined he did not make attempts to resuscitate Sweet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead Pitt reached out to MacDonald via phone calls and texts, and she advised him to administer a drug to revive Sweet, the court heard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His body was found in a shallow pit, burned with the use of an accelerant, court heard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MacDonald then contacted Sturgess to seek his assistance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MacDonald took Sweet\u2019s vehicle to a local auto wreckers, although defense lawyer John Sharkey stipulated this morning that MacDonald had no involvement with anything that happened at the Pitt property subsequent to Sweet\u2019s death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, Sharkey said MacDonald was the \u201clittle bird\u201d who had originally told others of what had happened at the property. Sharkey told the court that after MacDonald\u2019s arrest she had been very forthcoming to the police about her involvement and what she knew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sharkey said MacDonald has endured a great deal of tragedy in her life and suffers from mental health issues. MacDonald had been under her house arrest for the past 14 months with \u201cvery restrictive conditions\u201d said Sharkye, and had remained clean and sober the entire time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An emotional MacDonald read a statement to the court apologizing to the family of Mark Sweet, some of whom were watching the proceedings virtually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Justice Philop Brissette said MacDonald had made some very poor decisions in assisting Pitt and recruiting Sturgess to help. He pointed out that MacDonald has a criminal record, although many of the charges are dated and unrelated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He commended her for pleading guilty and taking responsibility, as well as her cooperation with the police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis begins the next chapter in your life Ms. MacDonald,\u201d said Brissett. \u201cI think you saw the error of your ways early on. I wish you success down the road.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

Don\u2019t miss out on Doppler!<\/h5>\n

Sign up here<\/u><\/a> to receive our email digest with links to our most recent stories.
\nLocal news in your inbox so you don’t miss anything!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Click here to support local news<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/broadstreet-zone>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of three people implicated in the death of Mark Sweet and the subsequent cover-up was sentenced in a Bracebridge courtroom earlier today. Lana MacDonald 54, was sentenced to nine […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1904,"featured_media":133572,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-133570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHuntsville woman sentenced in Mark Sweet death cover-up - Huntsville Doppler<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Huntsville woman sentenced in Mark Sweet death cover-up in Bracebridge criminal court on Friday, March 3, 2023.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/huntsville-woman-sentenced-in-mark-sweet-death-cover-up\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Huntsville woman sentenced in Mark Sweet death cover-up - Huntsville Doppler\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Huntsville woman sentenced in Mark Sweet death cover-up in Bracebridge criminal court on Friday, March 3, 2023.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/huntsville-woman-sentenced-in-mark-sweet-death-cover-up\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Huntsville Doppler\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/HuntsvilleDoppler\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-03-03T20:57:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-03-04T13:12:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/media-doppleronline-ca.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com\/2023\/03\/yaRCDorP-Mark-Sweet.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"761\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"348\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Doppler Online\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Hville_Doppler\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Hville_Doppler\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Doppler Online\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/huntsville-woman-sentenced-in-mark-sweet-death-cover-up\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/huntsville-woman-sentenced-in-mark-sweet-death-cover-up\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Doppler Online\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/#\/schema\/person\/3e6b0695dcb78273e5a4854699a12938\"},\"headline\":\"Huntsville woman sentenced in Mark Sweet death cover-up\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-03T20:57:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-04T13:12:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/huntsville-woman-sentenced-in-mark-sweet-death-cover-up\/\"},\"wordCount\":552,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/huntsville-woman-sentenced-in-mark-sweet-death-cover-up\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/media-doppleronline-ca.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com\/2023\/03\/yaRCDorP-Mark-Sweet.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/huntsville-woman-sentenced-in-mark-sweet-death-cover-up\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/huntsville-woman-sentenced-in-mark-sweet-death-cover-up\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/huntsville-woman-sentenced-in-mark-sweet-death-cover-up\/\",\"name\":\"Huntsville woman sentenced in Mark Sweet death cover-up - Huntsville Doppler\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/huntsville-woman-sentenced-in-mark-sweet-death-cover-up\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/huntsville-woman-sentenced-in-mark-sweet-death-cover-up\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/media-doppleronline-ca.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com\/2023\/03\/yaRCDorP-Mark-Sweet.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-03T20:57:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-04T13:12:22+00:00\",\"description\":\"Huntsville woman sentenced in Mark Sweet death cover-up in Bracebridge criminal court on Friday, March 3, 2023.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/huntsville-woman-sentenced-in-mark-sweet-death-cover-up\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/huntsville-woman-sentenced-in-mark-sweet-death-cover-up\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/huntsville-woman-sentenced-in-mark-sweet-death-cover-up\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/media-doppleronline-ca.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com\/2023\/03\/yaRCDorP-Mark-Sweet.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/media-doppleronline-ca.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com\/2023\/03\/yaRCDorP-Mark-Sweet.png\",\"width\":761,\"height\":348,\"caption\":\"Mark Sweet. (Photo: OPP)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/huntsville-woman-sentenced-in-mark-sweet-death-cover-up\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Huntsville woman sentenced in Mark Sweet death cover-up\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/\",\"name\":\"Huntsville Doppler\",\"description\":\"Read Local\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Huntsville Doppler\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/media-doppleronline-ca.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com\/2025\/03\/logo-Canadian-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/media-doppleronline-ca.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com\/2025\/03\/logo-Canadian-1.jpg\",\"width\":760,\"height\":212,\"caption\":\"Huntsville Doppler\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/HuntsvilleDoppler\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/Hville_Doppler\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/huntsville_doppler\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/#\/schema\/person\/3e6b0695dcb78273e5a4854699a12938\",\"name\":\"Doppler Online\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/author\/doppler-online\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Huntsville woman sentenced in Mark Sweet death cover-up - Huntsville Doppler","description":"Huntsville woman sentenced in Mark Sweet death cover-up in Bracebridge criminal court on Friday, March 3, 2023.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/huntsville-woman-sentenced-in-mark-sweet-death-cover-up\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Huntsville woman sentenced in Mark Sweet death cover-up - Huntsville Doppler","og_description":"Huntsville woman sentenced in Mark Sweet death cover-up in Bracebridge criminal court on Friday, March 3, 2023.","og_url":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/huntsville-woman-sentenced-in-mark-sweet-death-cover-up\/","og_site_name":"Huntsville Doppler","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/HuntsvilleDoppler\/","article_published_time":"2023-03-03T20:57:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-03-04T13:12:22+00:00","og_image":[{"width":761,"height":348,"url":"https:\/\/media-doppleronline-ca.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com\/2023\/03\/yaRCDorP-Mark-Sweet.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Doppler Online","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Hville_Doppler","twitter_site":"@Hville_Doppler","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Doppler Online","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/huntsville-woman-sentenced-in-mark-sweet-death-cover-up\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/huntsville-woman-sentenced-in-mark-sweet-death-cover-up\/"},"author":{"name":"Doppler Online","@id":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/#\/schema\/person\/3e6b0695dcb78273e5a4854699a12938"},"headline":"Huntsville woman sentenced in Mark Sweet death cover-up","datePublished":"2023-03-03T20:57:46+00:00","dateModified":"2023-03-04T13:12:22+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/huntsville-woman-sentenced-in-mark-sweet-death-cover-up\/"},"wordCount":552,"commentCount":1,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/huntsville-woman-sentenced-in-mark-sweet-death-cover-up\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/media-doppleronline-ca.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com\/2023\/03\/yaRCDorP-Mark-Sweet.png","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-CA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/huntsville-woman-sentenced-in-mark-sweet-death-cover-up\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/huntsville-woman-sentenced-in-mark-sweet-death-cover-up\/","url":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/huntsville-woman-sentenced-in-mark-sweet-death-cover-up\/","name":"Huntsville woman sentenced in Mark Sweet death cover-up - Huntsville Doppler","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/huntsville-woman-sentenced-in-mark-sweet-death-cover-up\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/huntsville-woman-sentenced-in-mark-sweet-death-cover-up\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/media-doppleronline-ca.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com\/2023\/03\/yaRCDorP-Mark-Sweet.png","datePublished":"2023-03-03T20:57:46+00:00","dateModified":"2023-03-04T13:12:22+00:00","description":"Huntsville woman sentenced in Mark Sweet death cover-up in Bracebridge criminal court on Friday, March 3, 2023.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/huntsville-woman-sentenced-in-mark-sweet-death-cover-up\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-CA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/huntsville-woman-sentenced-in-mark-sweet-death-cover-up\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/huntsville-woman-sentenced-in-mark-sweet-death-cover-up\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/media-doppleronline-ca.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com\/2023\/03\/yaRCDorP-Mark-Sweet.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/media-doppleronline-ca.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com\/2023\/03\/yaRCDorP-Mark-Sweet.png","width":761,"height":348,"caption":"Mark Sweet. (Photo: OPP)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/huntsville-woman-sentenced-in-mark-sweet-death-cover-up\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Huntsville woman sentenced in Mark Sweet death cover-up"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/#website","url":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/","name":"Huntsville Doppler","description":"Read Local","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/#organization","name":"Huntsville Doppler","url":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/media-doppleronline-ca.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com\/2025\/03\/logo-Canadian-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/media-doppleronline-ca.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com\/2025\/03\/logo-Canadian-1.jpg","width":760,"height":212,"caption":"Huntsville Doppler"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/HuntsvilleDoppler\/","https:\/\/x.com\/Hville_Doppler","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/huntsville_doppler\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/#\/schema\/person\/3e6b0695dcb78273e5a4854699a12938","name":"Doppler Online","url":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/author\/doppler-online\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1904"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}