A Grande Prairie man who led police on a lengthy, high-speed chase through Jasper National Park last year, faces an extended time in jail after he pled guilty to three charges in Jasper Provincial Court on January 12.

Tyler Houle admitted to having fled from police while in possession of stolen property valued at over $5,000 and also to theft under $5,000.

On November 7th, Hinton RCMP were alterted that the driver of a silver Dodge pickup truck had stolen $90 worth of gasoline from a local station. The truck in question had been reported stolen in Grande Prairie on November 1.

An attendant at the East Gate of Jasper National Park phoned police to inform them that the vehicle had entered the Park at 1:30 in the afternoon. Jasper RCMP responded and attempted to stop Houle east of town, but the officers did not have a chance to deploy a spike belt before Houle passed them. The police pursued him in a marked car with sirens and emergency lights activated, but rather than stopping for police, the perpetrator sped up. According to John Higgerty, presenting the circumstances on behalf of the Provincial Crown, the police car chasing Houle was travelling at speeds up to 180 kilometres per hour, but Houle maintained the distance between the truck he was driving and his pursuers.

Having passed several vehicles in a dangerous manner, Houle eventually crashed the truck into an empty roadside rest area about 40 kilometres past the B.C. border after he was unable to negotiate a curve in the road at the speed he was travelling.

Houle then attempted to flee the scene on foot before being apprehended.

“Mr. Houle knows that this is a serious matter,” said defence counsel Laurie Rodger, who together with Higgerty requested a two-year sentence in a federal institution.

Houle, a married 25-year-old with five children, has a history of crystal meth use and had been arguing with his wife the morning of November 7, Rodger told the court. On the “spur of the moment” Houle jumped into an idling truck, not realizing that it had been stolen.

“So, you stole the truck from a thief?” Judge Donald Norheim asked. The vehicle was a write-off after the chase and crash, the court learned, and according to the police information, had been a new truck valued at close to $50,000.

Norheim asked whether or not a mandatory minimum sentence was in place for the charge of flight from police. In their joint submission, Rodger and Higgerty had requested a one-year term for the flight, combined with nine months for the possesion of the truck and three months for the theft of the gasoline.

“Quite frankly, this is extremely serious,” Norheim said in response. “You could have easily killed someone in flight,” he told Houle.

“For the facts involved here ... two years plus a day, I’m concerned that is not enough.”

The Crown will clarify the sentencing limitations in this case in time for Houle’s sentencing, which has been scheduled for February 9.