A man who was too proud to beg for bus fare — so he stole an SUV to get home to Gatineau — was sentenced to six months in jail Wednesday.

Michel Gerald Chretien, 49, pleaded guilty to theft over $5,000. “I was thinking about nominating him for Canada’s dumbest criminal,” joked defence lawyer John McMunagle, who has represented Chretien for about 20 years.

Around noon on Sept. 14, Chretien — who didn’t have bus fare — went to the MotorX garage on St. Laurent Blvd. in the Elmvale Acres area and asked to see a Toyota Rav4 facing the street. He opened and closed the hood and asked to sit in the driver’s seat. When there was a break in traffic, he drove off the lot.

The salesman jumped into another vehicle and followed him south on St. Laurent, then west on Pleasant Park Rd. and west on Othello Ave. where Chretien was stopped by traffic.

The salesman pulled in front of Chretien, who gave up the chase and waited for police to arrive. He’d apparently thought he could boost the car, drive home then call police to tell them where the stolen wheels could be found.

Chretien isn’t a bad guy — he just couldn’t restrain himself from his “purely impulsive act,” McMunagle said. A former drug addict with a long record of property offences, Chretien has been clean and holding down a job.

He will have three more months in jail after getting the usual two-for-one credit for time served

megan.gillis@sunmedia.ca