A Prince George man has been sentenced to one year in jail for a crime spree that spanned across the Thompson-Okanagan region.
Via video on Monday (July 27), Travis Ryan Hennessy appeared in Vernon Provincial Court on 21 counts related to the spree.
He pleaded guilty on four of those counts, resulting in the one-year sentence.
The 28-year-old pled guilty to an incident in Quesnel where he made two purchases worth $1,300 at Outlaw Clothing with a stolen credit card from Northern Health and the store manager became suspicious.
The manager alerted authorities, and police determined the card was stolen after contacting Northern Health and identifying Hennessey on security camera footage.
The next incident occurred in April 2019 in Kamloops, when Hennessey stole a watch and chain from Michael Hill Jewellery in Aberdeen Mall.
An employee chased Hennessy into the parking lot, but he was able to get away and the items, valued at $4,400, were never recovered.
Hennessey was involved in a near-identical theft a month later in Penticton, where he visited the Michael Hill Jewellery store in Cherry Lane Shopping Centre.
This time, he got away with $14,000 in merchandise after he ran out of the shop while an employee's back was turned.
Shortly after the Penticton theft, Hennessey stole a truck from the Chief Lake Road area north of Prince George.
Vernon RCMP located the truck at a gas station, and when Hennessey noticed the police, he sped off. Police didn't give chase due to public safety, but later found the vehicle parked at a house on Okanagan Landing Road, that was well-known to police. RCMP received a warrant and arrested Hennessey inside the house.
Hennessey has a lengthy rap sheet, with a total of 33 convictions.
He has been charged in a number of vehicular offences, including dangerous driving causing death and two counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm in a 2018 fatal car crash in Kelowna.
The Crown sought a slightly harsher sentence of 16 months, citing his track record, while the defence asked for a lesser sentence. The judge met in the middle and settled on one year.
Hennessey received four months for the Vernon incident, three months for the Kamloops theft, and five months for the Penticton robbery. He was given 45 days for the Quesnel fraud charge, but the judge granted him time served on that count.
Hennessey will also have an 18-month probation period and will have to undergo rehabilitation for his drug addiction.
He will not be allowed to drive, and is subsequently banned from Aberdeen Mall, Cherry Lane Mall, Outlaw Clothing and Michael Hill Jewellers.
He has participated in numerous programs while in custody, earning 11 certificates for programs such as drug addiction counselling and healthy relationship workshops.
- with files from John Lawless, Castanet
