The phrase “career criminal” certainly applies to Shannon Stein.

That’s what Judge Donald Luther said Tuesday afternoon as he sentenced the 42-year old Surrey, B.C. resident to seven years for his part in a string of crimes committed last October in Whitehorse.

That’s exactly what Crown prosecutor Keith Parkkari asked for during Monday’s sentencing hearing.

Defence attorney Lynn MacDiamid had been asking for three years, plus three years’ probation for the charges. Those included credit card theft, robbery, and assault with a weapon.

In June, Stein was found guilty of robbing a tenant at the Stratford Motel on Fourth Avenue.

The tenant and his neighbour were also assaulted with bear spray by Janine Firth, Stein’s then-common-law wife and partner in the crime.

Firth pled guilty to charges in December 2015. Stein went to trial, claiming he thought they were simply going to buy marijuana at the motel.

On Monday, Stein also pled guilty to four separate incidents that occurred during the 10 days between the motel robbery and his arrest.

These included breaking into a car, stealing a tablet from Whitehorse General Hospital, and bilking three men out of money and credit cards in exchange for cigarettes he did not provide.

MacDiarmid had argued it was the seriousness of her client’s drug addiction that led to the week-long crime spree.

Stein’s addiction dates back to his teen years.

He said he’d been clean before coming to the Yukon from B.C., but he and Firth fell into old habits. These included stealing to support addiction.

“That’s what I’ve always done. That’s what I know,” Stein told Judge Luther.

He said he stuck to credit card theft, and break and enter because no one got hurt, and insurance always paid people back.

Parkkari emphasized Stein’s lengthy criminal record, the only significant gap in which was from 2010 to 2013. Most of that time, Judge Luther pointed out, Stein was serving a federal sentence.

Parkkari also highlighted Stein’s lack of accountability in the motel robbery.

During his trial in June, Stein maintained that, despite wearing a heavy coat and sunglasses to the motel, he hadn’t known Firth had planned a robbery.

Parkkari argued that Stein was “not a bit player, such as a lookout or something like that. He was an active participant.”

Judge Luther agreed.

“The court does not in any way accept that Ms. Firth was the leader in this criminal duo,” he said.

“Throughout the trial, Mr. Stein consistently downplayed his role and sought the court to put himself in much better light than Ms. Firth, who is about eight years his junior.”

Judge Luther also said Monday he isn’t one for concurrent sentences.

“Separate crimes, separate times,” he said.

During Tuesday’s decision, he talked about the difference between concurrent versus consecutive sentences, noting that concurrent sentences (multiple sentences served at the same time) are served when an overall sentence would be too severe for the crime.

In Stein’s case, Judge Luther said, the maximum sentence would have been 38 years.

On Monday morning, Stein told the court he knows the sentence is more than just time in a cell.

Stein said he knows he’ll miss his sister’s wedding, the birth of his brother’s child, and the opportunity to help his parents in their old age.

“I accept full responsibility for my actions,” he said.

Judge Luther said he didn’t know what other choice Stein had when facing a long-term sentence.

He also said Stein’s own persistence in his criminal ways disentitled him to leniency.

“You’re absolutely going to have to stop these criminal ways,” Judge Luther said as he addressed Stein directly after delivering his decision on Tuesday.

“The sentences are only going to go up.”