CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — A P.E.I. man who ran into staff with his motorized scooter after trying to steal two TVs from Walmart was sentenced recently to seven months in jail on a string of charges.
Todd Reginald Carty, 49, appeared before Judge John Douglas in provincial court in Charlottetown for sentencing on multiple charges, including a drug offence and seven counts of theft.
Before hearing his sentence, Carty addressed the court to talk about what he has been going through since getting an infection in his leg in the summer of 2018 and having part of it amputated a few months later.
“Most days I wake up I don’t know whether to smile or cry,” he said.
During the proceedings, Crown attorney John Diamond detailed some of Carty’s offences committed over several months last year, including thefts of a jet pump from Princess Auto and flip flops from the Island Flip Flop Shop in 2018.
Last year Carty also stole a jewelry box from the Confederation Centre of the Arts gift shop and a cartload of items from a Sobeys store.
When the police arrested Carty in August 2018, they found a needle with a fluid in it that tested positive for amphetamine.
Since his leg amputation, Carty has stolen more than $300 worth of Boost from a Sobeys.
On June 8, he also stole a 40-inch TV along with a paint sprayer from Canadian Tire in Charlottetown.
That same day, Carty went to a Walmart where security staff confronted him outside after he stole two TVs valued at about $300 each while he was driving a motorized scooter.
Diamond said Carty ran into one of the staff members and an employee grabbed the scooter’s keys.
Carty, who Diamond said had a lengthy criminal record, also missed several court dates.
During the defence submissions, Carty’s lawyer Alex Dalton told the court her client’s underlying issue was substance abuse as he struggles with opiate addiction.
Carty told the court the last year was the worst of his life.
“I didn’t want to live,” he said.
The most recent theft charges weren’t because of his addiction, Carty said.
“I was just lost and hopeless.”
Carty also said he could have given up after losing his leg, but he wants to live.
Along with the jail time, which Douglas reduced by four months after giving him credit for time served, Carty must pay a $500 fine for the drug offence.
He will be on probation for 18 months and must pay a total of almost $1,400 in restitution.
