Peter Ludvigson was sent back to jail on Monday after breaching an order to report to a Penticton treatment centre. (Nanaimo RCMP)

By Ian Holmes

familiar situation

Prolific Nanaimo offender returns to jail after offered residential treatment

Nov 19, 2024 | 5:25 AM

NANAIMO — He was warned he’d likely go back to jail if he didn’t report to a southern interior treatment centre and that’s exactly what happened.

Peter Jonathan Cameron Ludvigson was ordered to serve the remainder of a six-month conditional sentence order in jail after his prior community-based sentence formally collapsed on Monday, Nov. 18.

The 49-year-old Nanaimo man received a time-served jail sentence for stealing thousands of dollars’ worth of goods combined from a pair of local big box stores, as chronicled by NanaimoNewsNOW last month, however the following week he was back in hand cuffs.

Described as a non-violent offender, court has repeatedly heard that Ludvigson has an entrenched history of thefts from mid Island area retailers to feed a longstanding, unresolved drug addiction.

His criminal record features in the range of 50 convictions of theft, primarily impacting Nanaimo area retailers.

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Offering live-in residential treatment for Ludvigson in an out-of-town environment in Penticton was seen by Crown counsel and the offender’s lawyer as a new way to help rehabilitate him as opposed to his continual pattern of cycling in and out of jail.

Due to credit for time already served, Ludvigson has about four-and-a-half months remaining on his jail sentence.

One year of probation applies to Ludvigson upon release.

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Ian.holmes@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes