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By DON MACPHERSON
macpherson.don@dailygleaner.com

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A drug addict who held up a northside pharmacy at knifepoint just days after being paroled from prison saw his penitentiary stay lengthened by more than four years Thursday.

Anthony Clifford Goodfellow, 29, of Boiestown was in provincial court Thursday to be sentenced on a variety of charges, including a May 31 robbery of painkillers from employees of Pharmasave on Canada Street.

He'd also previously pleaded guilty to a May 31 count of stealing a Ford Crown Victoria; June 6 charges of failing to stop for police, dangerous driving and possession of stolen licence plates; and one count of being unlawfully at large between May 31 and June 6.

Furthermore, Goodfellow pleaded guilty Thursday to a June 4 count of possession of a stolen 2001 Kia Rio.

Judge Mary Jane Richards sentenced him to a total of 54 months in prison for the various offences.

Crown prosecutor Robert Murray said Goodfellow entered the Marysville pharmacy, and after being directed to the pharmacist's counter, he brandished a knife.

"He stood in front of the counter and asked for all their drugs," he said.

The pharmacist initially gave Goodfellow a decoy bottle, Murray said, but the accused quickly realized it contained no pills and demanded drugs again.

All told, Goodfellow made off with 6,145 pills, mostly prescription painkillers such as Dilaudid and OxyContin.

"The accused left the store, saying, 'Thank you,'" Murray said.

While the pharmacy was out $5,000 in product, he said, the street value of the drugs ranged between $104,000 and $127,000.

Goodfellow used the Crown Victoria, stolen from a pizza-delivery worker, in the robbery. That car was later recovered.

The June 6 charges stem from a high-speed chase and Goodfellow's arrest.

City police officers spotted a blue minivan shortly after midnight June 6 on the north side of the city that they'd been told Goodfellow was seen driving earlier.

The minivan took off, leading police on a chase that reached speeds of 120 kilometres per hour. During the chase, Murray said, Goodfellow drove on the wrong side of the road and passed other vehicles.

He eventually lost control of the vehicle at a sharp right turn on the Marysville highway, the prosecutor said, and as a result, the minivan was airborne as it wiped out.

Goodfellow told police he'd planned the robbery because of his serious drug addiction.

Only 75 pills were found in the van, Murray said, along with five syringes and a white, powdery substance. Goodfellow had $480 cash, which police seized.

The van sported the licence plates from the stolen Kia Rio, which was never recovered, he said.

Goodfellow co-operated with police, giving them directions to a place in a field where he said he'd hidden most of the pills he'd taken from the pharmacy.

Murray said police were unable to locate them, though.

He said Goodfellow was released from prison on an accelerated parole May 21, only 10 days before the robbery.

He went missing from his halfway house May 28, which lead to the charge of being unlawfully at large.

The prosecutor noted that a pharmacy technician who was working at the counter at the time of the robbery has since left work on stress leave.

Defence lawyer Randy Maillet said Goodfellow has a serious drug problem that drives his criminal behaviour.

Goodfellow was diagnosed since the robbery with several psychiatric conditions, including obsessive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.

It's the first time these problems have been identified, Maillet said, and now that he's on medications that include an anti-psychotic and anti-depressants, his unruly behaviour has improved.