Guilty plea from accused in armed carjacking of teen

A 17-year-old girl decided to leave her running, unlocked car to warm up on a chilly January morning until she saw a stranger jump into the driver seat.

The girl confronted the man, who refused to get out of the car parked just outside her home on Coy Avenue in the city’s Exhibition neighbourhood. She struggled with him, but backed off when the man motioned to a plastic bag and said, “Listen, I have a gun.”

Police arrived and found a sawedoff rifle inside the car that Andrew William Hartle abandoned in the middle of the street when the car stalled out, Crown prosecutor Barbara Herder said. Officers also found fake $100, $50 and $20 bills that, in the Crown’s opinion, were specifically designed to look like Canadian money.

On Wednesday, Hartle, 30, pleaded guilty in Saskatoon provincial court to robbery, possession of counterfeit money and three breaches stemming from the Jan. 11 carjacking.

Herder asked for a three-year sentence for what she called a “bold” robbery in front of an entire neighbourhood during the morning work rush.

People should feel safe when they go outside and start their cars in the morning, she added.

Hartle was using crystal methamphetamine and hadn’t slept for five days when he stole the running vehicle after his own car wouldn’t start, defence lawyer Tanis Talbot told court.

“This is the worst thing I have ever done,” Hartle said from the prisoner’s box, apologizing to the people he scared that morning.

Talbot argued for a sentence of just under three years.

She said Hartle started using cocaine in Grade 8 after his parents got sick, and he has struggled with drug addiction ever since. Court heard Hartle has been sober for months.

He was trying to get rid of the fake money by taking it away from his roommate, who he believed was “dangerous,” Talbot said.

Herder argued for an additional one-year sentence on the counterfeit charge.

Judge Doug Agnew reserved his sentencing decision to allow him time to look into if the bills, which have prominent Chinese symbols, would be considered legally counterfeit.