Plea deal will see convicted vehicle spend nine months in jail

By MEDICINE HAT NEWS on July 12, 2023.

https://www.medicinehatnews.com@MedicineHatNews

A prolific car thief in Medicine Hat was sentenced to nine months in jail and a year’s probation in a plea deal that lawyers hope will reform the man who has been in and out of prison since 1993.

Gerald Christopher Mohr, 49, was charged this winter with separate incidents including a confrontation while illegally camping on an acreage near Airdrie and stealing a truck near Seven Persons.

Medicine Hat police arrested him after a rancher trailed him driving in the oncoming lanes of Highway 3.

Defence lawyer Katherine Beyak told court that probation conditions would spur self-reflection for Mohr, who she said has had a “life long struggle with drugs and alcohol.”

“There are periods when he’s clean and periods when he steals trucks to get drugs,” said Beyak, detailing a broken employment history in construction.

Beyak said the sentencing guidelines for non-violent property crime typically call for sentences of less than two years, which she hypothesized, was not long enough for programs and addiction treatment provided by correctional staff to take hold.

“He’s not really done anything bad enough,” she said.

A joint sentencing recommendation called for a total of 275 days, cumulatively, on five counts, including theft over $5,000, theft under $5,000 and failing to attend court. Federal prosecutors said a lengthy criminal record includes similar offences in the last few years.

Mohr, in custody since February, would have 25 days left to serve on the sentence. He plans to live in Calgary with is common-law spouse and attend probation office and counselling there.

Mohr apologized in a brief statement before Justice Kristin Ailsby confirmed the sentence, saying “these are serious offences, and there are factors when the public becomes engaged in the safety of their community.”

She says the auto theft could have resulted in tragedy on a busy highway.

Last winter, a rancher based near Seven Persons was alerted to a break-in at his property when his father, living nearby, called to ask where he was headed since an old farm truck he owned had headed past.

The man then ran to his barn, discovered a 2006 Dodge pickup was missing and then in another truck followed tracks in the snow to find the vehicle on a range road.

A chase ensued and the stolen vehicle left the road, demolishing a sign, before turning on to Highway 3, driving toward the city in the wrong lane before stopping at a gas station.

The rancher then observed a man leave the vehicle and run into a trailer nearby. Within an hour, police used a battering ram to break down the trailer door and apprehended Mohr inside.

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