A judge had some harsh words for a Kamloops teenager who said “hard times” sent him on a months-long crime spree that eventually landed him behind bars.

“I was just going through hard times and I realize what I did,” 18-year-old Garret Getz said prior to being sentenced Monday after pleading guilty to a string of charges stretching back to last year.

Kamloops provincial court Judge Hermann Rohrmoser wasn’t buying it.

“Lots of people go through hard times and don’t end up with eight charges in the course of nine months,” he said, calling Getz’s actions “an uninterrupted crime spree.”

Getz pleaded guilty to a total of eight charges, including two counts of driving while prohibited, two of failing to appear in court, one impaired driving charge and a number of breaches.

Two of the breaches took place when Getz was a youth. He first got in trouble as an adult on April 9 — just four days after his 18th birthday — when he was caught by Mounties drinking in a vehicle near the West Coast Amusements Midway outside Aberdeen Mall.

Because the car was running and Getz was in the driver’s seat, he was arrested for impaired driving. Tests later showed he had a blood-alcohol level of 0.130 — almost twice the legal limit to drive.

He was released and had his licence suspended.

Two months later, on June 9, he was in trouble again after being found behind the wheel of a truck following a routine traffic stop. He was then charged with driving while prohibited.

On June 28, Getz was busted driving again — this time as he blew past an RCMP radar unit near Merritt at a speed of 155 km/h.

An officer followed the truck and pulled it over. As he was approaching the vehicle, he saw Getz and a male passenger attempting to switch seats.

Crown prosecutor Tim Livingston was seeking between 11 and 18 new days in jail, after giving Getz two-for-one credit for the five days he’s already spent in custody.

But Rohrmoser didn’t like that idea, and ordered the teen spend 28 new days behind bars.

In addition to the jail term, Getz was also ordered to pay $1,500 in fines and banned from driving for a year.