'My Drug Habit Spiraled Out Of Control': Man Sentenced For Robberies
DENVER (CBS4) - A man who went on a crime spree in Denver, Colorado Springs and Pueblo with a gun last year and injured a fast-food worker is headed to prison for almost six years.
Brenden Conrad Garcia, 26, of Pueblo, said his crime wave -- 17 armed robberies within three weeks -- was the result of being a drug addict.
"I can't even begin to imagine what I put these people (his victims) through during any of the robberies," Garcia told Judge R. Brooke Jackson of U.S. District Court in Denver.
Jackson on Thursday imposed a sentence of 70 months in prison for "a very serious series of crimes." He said Garcia had threatened violence against people he was robbing with a gun -- "scary stuff" that was traumatic for them.
Garcia robbed an IHOP restaurant on South Colorado Boulevard in Denver, as well as restaurants, motels, and other types of businesses in Colorado Springs and Pueblo.
The judge said the fast-food worker in Pueblo who was injured when Garcia hit her with a gun may need surgery.
"My drug habit spiraled out of control," Garcia told the judge. "The drug addiction was fueling this turmoil I was feeling."
Jackson said Garcia abused cocaine, alcohol, heroin and prescription medications.
The judge ordered Garcia to pay restitution of $11,710 to the businesses he robbed in May and June of last year.
