By Ian Holmes

Thief sentenced to 4-months after found sleeping in stolen car with stolen goods

Oct 30, 2018 | 4:22 PM

NANAIMO — A prolific offender will spend four months in prison after being found sleeping in a stolen car filled with stolen mail, break-in tools and crystal meth.

Jackson Dennis Filgate, 34, pleaded guilty and was sentenced shortly after Tuesday morning at Provincial Court in Nanaimo on four charges relating to his arrest in Nanaimo roughly one month ago.

Court heard an Filgate was spotted by a Nanaimo Mountie sleeping in a stolen car parked on Shenton Rd. near Labieaux Rd. on Sept. 18 at 2:40 a.m.

Judge Parker MacCarthy took particular interest in the stolen mail belonging to several people around Vancouver Island.

“(It’s) becoming a very serious issue, there’s no tolerance for that. It’s a significant breach of people’s personal integrity as is any break-and-enter type of offence,” MacCarthy told Filgate.

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Filgate was on probation at the time of his arrest.

In January, 2017, he received a four month jail sentence for the unlawful use of a mail key in Nanaimo and has a criminal record littered with numerous property crime and drug convictions in the Nanaimo and Victoria areas.

Defence lawyer Stephen Taylor told court Filgate is trying to rebuild his life and he has an addictions treatment bed secured.

Judge MacCarthy stressed the importance of Filgate getting clean to forge a more productive life.

“You need to understand that you’ll be looking at significantly longer periods of incarceration if you don’t use this opportunity while you’re clean,” MacCarthy said

In addition to jail time, Filgate was also handed 18-months probation with numerous conditions attached.

ian@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes