27-year-old Hudson Klassen was released from jail on Thursday, Sept. 12 after spending eight months locked up for several crimes in the Oceanside area. (Facebook)

By Ian Holmes

prolific offender

Chronic offender released after jail tenure for Parksville area crime wave

Sep 12, 2019 | 10:49 AM

NANAIMO — A prolific offender battling drug addiction has been released from jail after serving eight months behind bars.

Hudson David Klassen, 27, pleaded guilty to four offences, primarily related to property crimes in the Parksville-Errington area, between last fall and January.

“He was literally living in the woods of Parksville at the worst of this…he was a wreck quite frankly,” Chris Churchill, Klassen’s lawyer, told court.

Klassen’s crime spree included a theft from Parksville’s Beach Club Resort and break-in to Buckerfields on the Alberni Hwy.

During an agreed statement of facts outlined at Klassen’s sentencing hearing, court was told he broke into a motor home at an Errington auction yard on Dec. 20, 2018. Klassen was found sleeping in the unit and arrested, while several missing items were not recovered.

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Klassen was released, then arrested less than a month later where a pair of Oceanside Mounties struggled to apprehend him on several outstanding warrants. An officer sustained a cut to his ankle while corralling Klassen.

The skirmish resulted in an assault charge against Klassen, which was later downgraded to obstruction.

Klassen was also handed one-year probation.

Two driving while prohibited offences against Klassen were dropped.

He briefly addressed court by acknowledging his addiction took him down a treacherous path.

“I’m going to do my best to get sober and turn my life around,” Klassen told court from the prisoner’s box.

Klassen’s post-release plan includes attending a drug treatment facility in Surrey.

His lengthy criminal record features a 2012 conviction for an attack on a woman in Nanaimo at an Uplands Dr. apartment unit. RCMP said at the time the wrong address was targeted during the violent home invasion.

Klassen was sentenced to nearly two years in jail for the crime.

ian@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes