A London man has been sentenced to a total of 2 1/2 years in prison after a drug-fueled crime spree across Southwestern Ontario.
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Shaun Wrightson, 25, picked up a slew of charges in his hometown, Woodstock, St. Thomas and Sarnia between October and March including breaking and entering, possessing stolen vehicles, resisting police, prohibited driving, theft, and breaching lease.
“All of this was in a time where he’s looking to fund his drug habit and doing what he can in order to do so,” defense lawyer Alexander Dobson said during Wrightson’s recent sentencing hearing in Sarnia.
Wrightson got six months in the border city for stealing about $1,000 in power tools from the nearby Petrolia Home Hardware Nov. 24 and fleeing to London in a gray Ford Escape with a license plate stolen from Stratford. He was seen on video behind the wheel despite being banned from driving or even sitting in the driver’s seat of a vehicle.
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That sentence will run at the same time as a two-year, 10-month prison term he got in London in July; he has about two years left to serve after spending about 10 months in pre-plea custody. But a six-month sentence he drew recently in Woodstock will run consecutively.
Dobson told the Sarnia judge his client became addicted to painkillers after breaking his pelvis in a serious 2017 accident and later moved on to illegal drugs. He’s now addicted to cocaine and methamphetamine.
“We see this story time and time again before the courts,” he said. “Essentially he began committing crimes. . . to fund those drug habits.”
Dobson recalled how, while advocating for his client’s release at a bail hearing earlier this year, he worried Wrightson would repeat the same cycle after his release.
“And that’s what happened,” the lawyer said. “He didn’t have control of his addiction at the time.”
But now he’s working on it while in custody, he added.
Wrightson declined a chance to address the court.
Sarnia Justice Mark Poland imposed the six-month sentence jointly proposed by Dobson and assistant Crown attorney Nicole Godfrey. He added a probation order banning Wrightson from Lambton County after his release.
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