A supportive housing complex on Labieux Rd. was credited with helping a prolific offender, prior to his departure in 2020. Luke John Ryan has returned in a bid to move on from a recent sentence. (File Photo/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Ian Holmes

prolific offender

Prolific offender returns to supportive housing following Nanaimo crime wave

Apr 2, 2022 | 6:13 AM

NANAIMO — The lawyer for a man responsible for multiple property crimes and a concerning assault in Nanaimo hopes a stable support system will aid his client and society.

Luke John Ryan, 44, pleaded guilty to five charges in relation to crimes in 2019 and 2020 and was handed a three month jail sentence and one year probation during a recent sentencing hearing in Nanaimo.

Court was told the most serious offence involved Ryan and two other people entering a tent pitched off Nanaimo Lakes Rd. in the early morning hours of Dec. 12, 2020, where multiple vulnerable people inside were assaulted.

Ryan hit a man in the tent several times with a flash light baton, while items from the tent were stolen from its stunned occupants. Another assailant bear sprayed people inside, none of whom ended up with significant injuries.

Ryan also pleaded guilty to mischief in relation to an attempted break-in at a Selby St. business.

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In another incident, the offender got caught up in a Nanaimo RCMP bait car sting in which Ryan stole what’s known as a “Bait Bag” from the vehicle parked on Front St. near Bastion St.

The bag contained tools and other items planted in the decoy vehicle in Dec. 2020, in which police tracked in real time when the vehicle was entered and the bag swiped.

A leaf blower and bicycle stolen in Nanaimo in 2020 rounded out theft convictions against Ryan.

His lawyer Michael Ritzker said Ryan has struggled with a deeply entrenched opioid addiction for many years. He said his crimes followed his departure from the temporary supportive housing complex on Labieux Rd.

“Unfortunately he took a turn for the worse and left that supportive housing and left the programming and supports that he was relying upon to control his addiction and subsequent behavioral patterns that emanate from that type addiction.”

Ryan was released from custody following his sentencing hearing due to credit for time served, while he remains under the court’s watch with a year-long probationary term containing numerous conditions.

Ritzker said Ryan is being welcomed back at the Labieux Rd. site, where staff spoke highly of him during his previous stay there.

The Crown conceded the sentence was lenient, but noted Ryan’s assault with a weapon conviction was his first offence involving violence among a long record of property crimes.

The dated allegations due to a court system bogged down by COVID delays also worked against the Crown’s case.

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ian@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes