13 months’ jail for S. Okanagan’s most-wanted
Just weeks after his arrest ended his turn as the South Okanagan’s most-wanted fugitive, a high-profile criminal is now serving jail time while waiting to deal with two more serious sets of charges.
Andrew Hardenstine, 43 was sentenced Thursday to a total of 13 months behind bars on four convictions related to a 2022 police chase in Penticton: failing to stop for police, driving while prohibited under the Criminal Code, driving while prohibited under the Motor Vehicle Act, and driving while suspended under the MVA.
Hardenstine was convicted following trial in provincial court in June 2023, but then failed to show up for subsequent court appearances. That led to the issuance of warrants and a seven-week manhunt earlier this year.
Court heard the 2022 incident involved Hardenstine, a prohibited driver, riding a dirt bike and leading police on a chase through Penticton and Penticton Indian Band territory. Officers eventually called off the chase due to high speeds, but later caught up with Hardenstine after his bike got stuck.
Crown counsel Kurt Froehlich urged a sentence in the range of 12 to 18 months, noting the 62 prior convictions on Hardenstine’s record.
“It is an almost unbroken pattern of criminal conduct, which is a quarter-century long,” said Froehlich.
“In my submission, the protection of the public is paramount here. The only thing that’s going to achieve that is a significant sentence of imprisonment. The only way to deter him and others like him who insist on driving when the law says they can’t drive is to incarcerate them.”
Defence counsel Melissa Lowe countered with a recommendation of no more than three months in jail for her client.
She described the Crown’s recommendation as “excessive” and “too significant of a step up,” given Hardenstine’s last conviction for driving while prohibited, in 2019, attracted a sentence of just 29 days.
“All of the sentencing principles – denunciation and deterrence – can be communicated through a more modest sentence,” said Lowe.
Judge Lynett Jung disagreed. “He was driving… in a way where the police decided they needed to discontinue trying to pursue Mr. Hardenstine on the dirt bike through the Penticton Indian Band and the streets of Penticton because it was not safe to do so,” said Jung.
The judge also looked skeptically at Lowe’s claim that Hardenstine deserved credit for not piling up more driving offences between 2020 and 2022.
“Really, if you look at his record, I don’t know how he would have had time to drive. He was in jail most of the time,” said Jung.
Hardenstine is still awaiting trial on two other matters. The first alleges two counts of drug trafficking and a single count of resisting arrest, stemming from a March 2023 incident in Penticton. An arrest warrant was issued Nov. 1 when Hardenstine was a no-show at his first scheduled appearance.
Mounties attempting to serve that warrant descended Feb. 21 on a motorhome in Okanagan Falls where Hardenstine was thought to be staying.
Hardenstine fled before officers arrived, prompting the RCMP to issue a public appeal urging Hardenstine to turn himself in.
The incident in Okanagan Falls resulted in nine charges against Hardenstine that were laid April 5, including disarming a police officer, assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest and six firearms offences.