By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

9 more months for man who tried to escape Nanaimo jail

May 26, 2017 | 4:13 PM

NANAIMO — A judge has handed nine extra months in jail to a man who tried to escape custody while serving time at the Nanaimo Correctional Centre.

Denis Lucero, 37, was sentenced in Provincial Court in Nanaimo on Friday, May 26 after pleading guilty to being unlawfully at large.

Court heard Lucero, from North Vancouver, was given permission to take part in a work crew directly outside the fence of the Biggs Rd. jail on Feb. 20, 2017.

Lucero arranged for his girlfriend to come from the Lower Mainland and pick him up in a car. They made it less than five kilometres before Lucero was arrested by a corrections officer on Northfield Rd. after a short foot chase.

“This Court must send a strong message to any like-minded individual who has been granted special permission to be outside a jail facility…If one walks away there will be tough consequences,” Judge Brian Harvey told Court.

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The Crown argued for a two year sentence for what they described as a planned and deliberate act. The defence lobbied for 60 days, noting Lucero wanted to visit his ailing mother.

In his ruling, Harvey said mitigating factors were the fact Lucero plead guilty and had no prior history of similar offences. He noted the maximum sentence for such an offence is two years in jail.

Lucero was seven weeks into a 697 day sentence for fraud related offences. Harvey said he believed there was significant planning behind the escape attempt.

“I’m particularly troubled by the predicament he had placed his girlfriend into, his actions were purely selfish, he did so at a very early opportunity,” Harvey said.

Lucero has 18 prior convictions since 2005, most involving fraud and property crime offences. The nine month sentence handed down Friday will be served after the original punishment is completed.

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