North Van man handed probation for exposing himself to teens in Ambleside

A North Vancouver man who swung a ski pole at police while wearing a ‘Jason’ horror-movie style mask and who has been repeatedly arrested for sexual behaviour in public has been handed one year on probation after spending the last three months in jail.

Joel Lysne, 35, was handed the sentence Jan. 15 in North Vancouver provincial court after pleading guilty before Judge Lyndsay Smith to charges of committing an indecent act, obstructing a police officer and breaching his probation.

Crown counsel Christie Lusk told the judge that on June 22, 2023 police received reports that Lysne was exposing himself and masturbating on a public trail near Ambleside Park in West Vancouver.

Police arrested Lysne and took him to Lions Gate Hospital under the Mental Health Act, where he was immediately released.

Lysne returned the next day to the same area where police again received complaints – this time from a teenaged girl – that Lysne was wearing no pants, touching himself sexually and screaming on the Ambleside Pier.

Lusk said the high school student and a group of friends had gone to the pier to jump in the water and celebrate the last day of school, when they encountered Lysne who was touching his genitals while “yelling nonsensical things at them” that “didn’t sound like a normal person.”

At the time, Lysne was bound by a probation order not to go to any public park or swimming area where young people under 18 are likely to be.

Lysne had been handed the probation order in January of 2023 after being found guilty of threatening and exposing himself to a group of teens at a North Vancouver skateboard park and throwing a vial of urine at a nurse’s face at Lions Gate Hospital.

At the end of October, Lysne was again arrested after a member of the public reported a person wearing a ‘Jason’ style mask was brandishing what appeared to be a spear in Mosquito Creek Park. Police attended and found Lysne in the mask, swinging what turned out to be a ski pole in their direction while resisting attempts to arrest him.

The prosecutor said both mental illness and substance use, including use of crystal meth, appear to be behind Lysne’s behaviour.

She added he has taken steps to connect with rehabilitation programs, including treatment facilities, while in custody.

Lysne doesn’t have a formal diagnosis of mental illness, the Crown noted, adding there were attempts to get him evaluated by a psychiatrist but a lack of staff at forensics prevented that report being completed.

Articling student Wesley Solmon, speaking for Lysne’s defence lawyer, said Lysne once had a stable life and worked as both a ski instructor and a chef in the past, but he lost his job during the pandemic and eventually turned to using drugs including crystal meth.

“It is clear that he does struggle with some mental health issues in addition to his drug use,” said Solmon.

Solmon said on the day he was arrested, Lysne was wearing the Jason mask “out of shame” and a desire to “hide his face from the public” rather than wanting to scare anyone.

He said Lysne had been living in the park because he was homeless and “didn’t know where else to go.”

He added that Lysne has been off drugs while in jail and “he tells me that he does not have any plans of returning to crystal meth.”

In sentencing Lysne, the judge said she was glad to hear that he has started to seek help for his problems but voiced concern about Lysne’s pattern of convictions.

Lysne was handed time served for the 93 days he has already spent in jail plus one year’s probation, with conditions including staying away from Ambleside Pier, Mosquito Creek Park and the North Vancouver Civic Plaza – where he was also previously arrested for causing a disturbance. He must also stay away from areas where children and teens could reasonably be expected to be present.