Thief nabbed after using pepper spray, threatening workers with needle

A thief discharged pepper spray at two Walmart employees and threatened gas station workers with a hypodermic needle, police say.

An off-duty RCMP officer later saw a man who matched the thief’s description getting into a cab. The man was tracked to the 1600 block of Pandosy Street where he was arrested after a brief foot chase.

“This co-ordinated effort shows the excellent work being done by the Kelowna regional detachment,” RCMP Const. Mike Della-Paolera said in a Monday release.

“(The suspect) has put the public at risk with his recent brazen actions and his arrest will hopefully stop him from traumatizing the public and businesses,” he said.

The one-man one-day crime wave started Friday at 6 a.m. when a Kelowna gas station was robbed by a man brandishing a needle. He ran off with a carton of cigarettes.

Reviewing the gas station’s security camera footage, police identified the suspect, who was known to them.

At 4 p.m. the same day, two workers at the Westbank Walmart were pepper sprayed when a man attempted to steal several laptops. The description matched the man police were looking for from the earlier robbery.

Although responding police could not immediately locate the suspect, an off-duty West Kelowna RCMP officer later saw him getting into a cab. Police obtained the cab’s destination from the company, and descended on an address in the 1600 block of Pandosy Street where the suspect was arrested.

Robin John Hardie of no fixed address out of Penticton is charged in connection with these robberies, and for breaching conditions stemming from a previous series of robberies last month.