Despite spending time in jail for breaking into a central Nanaimo home on two separate occasions, 33-year-old Trevor Allan Schwartz was recently sentenced to just over three years in jail for attempting to break into the same house again last summer. (File photo/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Jordan Davidson

repeated break-ins

Troubled Nanaimo man jailed for repeatedly breaking into the same home

Sep 18, 2025 | 5:49 AM

NANAIMO — A 33-year-old man has been sentenced for attempting to break into a central Nanaimo home, despite two past jail terms for breaking into the same house.

Trevor Allan Schwartz was given just over three years in prison after being sentenced in a Nanaimo court on Friday, Sept. 12, after pleading guilty to multiple charges related to the attempted break and enter last summer, and being found in a stolen car earlier this year.

Reading from a court-ordered psychiatric report, Crown prosecutor Leanne Mascolo said Schwartz’s reasoning for returning to the same house was “he was looking for somewhere like home.”

“He told the doctor…that it had been a while since he had lived in a home. He was comfortable there. Again, he told the doctor that he wasn’t sure why he went back there three times. He said he liked the house. ‘It was so nice and clean, I wish I could afford it.’ ”

Schwartz was given six months in jail for being unlawfully inside the home in June 2017, and was then given two years behind bars and a year of probation in June 2018 when he broke into the same home again.

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Mascolo said six years after that sentence, police were once again called to the home in the early morning hours of July 13, 2024.

“At 3:24 a.m., police were called to this residence… both [homeowners] were there. They witnessed, later identified as Mr. Schwartz, throw a rock at their patio door, and actually hit [a man] in the foot, and then Mr. Schwartz took off when the homeowners confronted him.”

Police arrested Schwartz a short time later in Bowen Park, where he had been living.

He was released on bail in October, but was arrested again in February, after a suspicious vehicle complaint led to Schwartz being found inside a vehicle which wasn’t his in the Bowen Park parking lot.

After an attempt to flee from police when they activated their lights, he reversed his vehicle into the police cruiser twice before finally stopping.

“He was difficult for the officers to deal with. It took two officers to gain control of Mr. Schwartz and to successfully gain control of him and place him under arrest.”

Traumatic past
Court heard Schwartz was diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder and PTSD, due to a severe brain injury which occurred when he was 18.

In 2011, his mother was stabbed to death on Gabriola Island and Schwartz was also stabbed several times during the incident, which Mascolo said “impacted him both physically and psychologically”, impairing his cognition, motor skills, executive function, language, and memory.

It was only a few years after the incident when Schwartz began to seriously abuse drugs and get into trouble with the law.

Past convictions include possession of stolen property, assault, mischief, and several breach of conditions and bail order charges.

Mascolo said it’s clear the stabbing incident profoundly impacted Schwartz.

He said during his psychological report, “stealing a car is little to what I’ve been through. I’m not stabbing anyone, I just planned on leaving in the car.”

“Unfortunately, the reality for Mr. Schwartz’s terrible past, is that, his line of thinking and way of thinking continue to put the public at risk,” said Mascolo. “He’s comparing his behaviour to the terrible tragedy that he experienced.”

The report concluded he is very likely to reoffend if he doesn’t have “intense supervision” in the community and continues to abuse drugs.

A victim impact statement from the female homeowner was submitted.

In it, she said the repeated break-ins have “caused havoc in our lives.”

“It’s difficult to feel safe, to roam freely in our safe place when this continually happens. I’m not sure how to protect myself when I’m home alone. The walls close in fast…I’m always worried I’m going to wake up to a stranger in my house. I do not know Trevor, and have no idea why he continually targets our house. I just want this insanity to stop,” the statement read.

Defence attorney Cheyne Hodgson said Schwartz was “not sophisticated in his offending” and it was mostly on impulse, and would require constant community support to stay out of trouble if he’s not incarcerated.

However, Hodgson said no such programs exist in the community and there’s no “clear path ahead” for him, and suggested a sentence of over two years for Schwartz to have access to programs in a federal institution.

“I’m not sure if Mr. Schwartz is able to fully appreciate, unfortunately, that impact that he’s had. I don’t think the impulsiveness that comes with his affecting issues is something that allows him to register beyond the actions that are directly before him, and I’m not qualified to make that assessment, but gathering from the reports, that might be the case, and that is certainly unfortunate.”

Schwartz declined to address the court.

He was given credit for 303 days served and is also banned from driving for three years following his release.

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