NANAIMO — A man revolving in and out of jail for most of his adult life will remain behind bars after pleading guilty to 11 offences in the mid-Island area.
Peter Jonathan Cameron Ludvigson, 47, was sentenced on Monday, Sept. 26 in provincial court in Nanaimo after a judge accepted a joint sentence recommendation linked to a long list of primarily property crimes last fall and early this year.
He was given a two-year provincial sentence followed by two years probation.
The highest value theft orchestrated by Ludvigson was a 1970’s model gold Rolex watch he swiped from a business in Nanaimo on Townsite Rd.
The watch, brazenly stolen last December in front of an employee and never recovered, was valued at around $7,000 to $8,000.
Other crimes in Nanaimo by Ludvigson involved him distracting staff and stealing a cashier’s key, then walking out of the Shoppers Drug Mart on Fifth St. with upwards of $800 worth of lottery tickets.
Court was told the offender, deeply mired in drug addiction, conned a Nanaimo Canadian Tire employee by convicting the worker he had already paid for his car which was serviced at the business.
Ludvigson, who supplied a fake name for the car work, also walked out of the department store with several goods with the duped employee believing Ludvigson already paid up.
The offender walked out the department store with an electric scooter, battery and shelter tent then drove off.
Ludvigson pleaded guilty to several brazen and poorly planned thefts at businesses in Courtenay and a hardware store in Port Alberni during the same period. Many of the crimes were captured on surveillance video.
On multiple occasions Ludvigson was arrested by police only to be released, before a cycle of new offences occurred.
The crime spree resulted in tens of thousands of dollars worth of stolen goods at multiple retailers, with expensive power tools being a favoured target of Ludvigson.
On Jan. 6, 2022 Ludvigson was arrested when he was found by police, unresponsive in a vehicle parked near Nanaimo Airport, with about 10 grams combined of cocaine and crystal meth.
Court was told the offender was released on bail in late January only to disregard his curfew the same day and was returned to jail.
“The tamper alarm on the electronic monitoring device was activated at one point, so it appeared to be completely ineffective monitoring of him on bail. So the police located, arrested him, took him into custody and he’s been in custody ever since,” the Crown’s Neal Bennet told court.
Bennet expanded on Ludvigson’s excessive criminal record which started in the early 1990’s in Nanaimo when the offender was a youth.
Ludvigson has a steady record of property crimes throughout his adult life, including offences in Alberta.
Bennet tallied about 50 convictions for theft on Ludvigson’s long criminal record, while his crimes also included break and enters and possessing stolen property.
“It’s extremely disheartening Your Honour it’s absolutely relentless in terms of property crime. With only a couple of gaps, Mr. Ludvigson’s pattern appears to be sprees of property offending followed by periods of custody.”
Bennet acknowledged Ludvigson does not have any crimes of violence to his name.
Defence attorney Stephen Taylor told court his client “has been ravaged by drugs”, which continues to plague him.
“I don’t have a lot of B&E clients in their 50’s,” Taylor told court. “I’m hoping that Mr. Ludvigson has aged out in this latest spree and has learned his lesson and just get to work.”
Taylor noted Ludvigson has made progress dealing with addiction issues while in custody this year through treatment programs and counselling.
Taylor said his client his highly embarrassed of his behaviour, which included the theft of a charity jar from a Courtenay business.
He noted Ludvigson does not remember some of the crimes he was sentenced for.
While referencing the joint submission, judge Brian Harvey told Ludvigson his punishment could have been far worse.
“You’re an extremely fortunate man given this record and given your age,” judge Harvey said.
Ludvigson did not formally address the court during the virtually conducted sentencing hearing.
He will remain in custody at the Vancouver Island Regional Correctional Centre in Saanich for a further eleven months due to pre-trial credit.
Ludvigson was also handed numerous conditions as part of two year probation, while he was also handed a $1,000 fine and two year driving ban.
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