Jennifer Lynn Perusini following her sentencing hearing in provincial court in Nanaimo on Aug. 29, 2018 (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Ian Holmes

court beat

Nanaimo woman avoids jail after disturbing crime spree

Sep 23, 2019 | 7:09 AM

NANAIMO — A woman who stole thousands of dollars worth of valuables from Nanaimo homes didn’t get more jail time, but was ordered to pay a big fine.

Jennifer Lynn Perusini was handed a two-month jail sentence, however credit for time already served allowed her to walk free from the Nanaimo court house on Monday, Sept. 23.

Judge Ted Gouge’s sentence includes the maximum three-year probationary term, while Perusini was ordered to pay back nearly $23,000 worth of goods she stole from her victims.

The brief verdict from Judge Gouge followed a lengthy sentencing hearing on Aug. 29 where Perusini pleaded guilty to six residential break-ins in Nanaimo between June and December, 2018.

Judge Gouge did not provide any rationale as to how he reached his decision.

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Perusini was also convicted of driving while prohibited and hit with a one-year driving ban.

Crown prosecutor Basil McCormick declined to comment after the decision was made in provincial court.

He had lobbied for a two-year provincial jail sentence and two-years probation.

16 other property and fraud related offences charged against Perusini were stayed.

During Perusini’s Aug. 29 sentencing hearing, court was told the 36-year-old with no prior criminal history became addicted to hard drugs, which set off her destructive crime spree.

She gained entry to some of the homes by initiating house cleaning work, court was told.

In one case described by the Crown as the most egregious, Perusini stole $4,500 cash, along with jewelry boxes containing irreplaceable family heirlooms from a Carol Pl. home in June, 2018.

The family dog was cut by what appeared to be a sharp object to its eye and required surgery.

Just over a month later nearly $5,400 worth of valuables were stolen from the upper and lower suites of a Hammond Bay Rd. home.

Most of the valuables stolen by Perusini in the homes she broke into were not recovered, according to an agreed statement of facts.

Nanaimo Mounties pulled Perusini over and arrested her on Dec. 12, 2018.

A search warrant of her home the following day turned up numerous stolen goods, break-in tools, fraudulent cheques, crystal meth and cocaine.

Perusini spent more than a month in jail following her arrest before she was granted bail.

Court was told she has resided in a pair of residential drug treatment programs on the Lower Mainland for most of this year.

Judge Gouge ordered Perusini to pay back the money she stole from her victims by July, 2022.

ian@nanaimonewsnow.com
On Twitter: @reporterholmes