Crime spree nets three-year sentence

MARTENS JAILED FOR PROPERTY CRIMES, VEHICLE THEFTS

A Lethbridge-area man who stole several pickup trucks during a crime spree late last year and earlier this year has been sent to a federal penitentiary.

Kody Abraham Martens pleaded guilty Tuesday in Lethbridge provincial court to 19 charges, many for property related offences, and was sentenced to three years in prison.

Crown prosecutor Vaughan Hartigan told court Martens, 30, stole vehicles, attempted to steal vehicles or was caught with stolen vehicles on numerous occasions between December 2017 and January of this year.

Martens, who has a penchant for Ford trucks, fled from police in two separate incidents when they tried to stop him, once in the city and once on Highway 845. Both times police ended the chase for the public’s safety, but during the city chase Martens sped in excess of 100 kmh.

Martens also stole gasoline from two gas stations. Hartigan pointed out that a truck reported stolen the night before was used in one “gas and dash.”

Although Martens co-operated with police and confessed his crimes after he was caught, police had plenty of evidence, including a wallet and identification left behind in a truck that had been stolen from a local tavern and was later found in a northside alley.

Hartigan said there is a good market for stolen trucks, especially heavy duty trucks, and rural areas are often targets because of relatively few neighbours and fewer police.

“Rural areas are particularly vulnerable to these offences,” Hartigan noted.

Lethbridge lawyer Claudia Connolly, who recommended with the Crown a three-year prison sentence, said Martens didn’t try to lie his way out of his situation when he was caught by police.

“He was very co-operative with police and very honest with them,” she said.

In delivering her sentence, Judge Sylvia Oishi noted that Martens suffers from fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, which affects his judgment and culpability. But she said fleeing from police and stealing vehicles for commercial gain, in addition to an already lengthy criminal record, demands a sentence that stresses denunciation and deterrence.

In addition to his three-year sentence, for which he was credited 105 days for time he had already spent in custody, Martens is prohibited from driving for two years. He must also pay restitution totalling about $1,300 to two victims of property offences.

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