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Break-in artist who targeted Lower Mainland businesses sentenced to time served

Vape shop, fitness studio, music store among those hit
NV court

A serial break-in artist who police pointed to as a suspect in thefts from businesses around the Lower Mainland will be released after serving a year and five months in jail.

Burnaby resident Gordon Vincent Gladstone, 43, was sentenced to time served – considered equivalent to just over two years in jail – after pleading guilty in North Vancouver provincial court June 3 to nine commercial break-ins during a three-month crime spree between September 2018 and January 2019.

Gladstone targeted small businesses that were closed for the night, ranging from a hair salon in East Vancouver, vape shop in Delta, and a fitness studio, traditional Chinese medicine shop and even a presentation house for a development in North Vancouver, according to information presented in court.

Gladstone’s MO was similar in almost all nine break-ins, according to details read in court by prosecutor Lisa Falloon.

Gladstone would use tools he brought with him – including pliers, chisels and a hammer – to punch out the lock cylinder on the front door of the business. He would then head straight for the front desk and grab the cash drawer from the cash register and any computer equipment or electronics that were in the immediate vicinity before quickly exiting the business.

In one case he also stole $500 worth of e-cigarettes, said Falloon.

In most of the break-ins detailed at Gladstone’s sentencing hearing, he was inside the business for less than two minutes. In one case he was in and out of the business in less than 30 seconds.

Police who examined video surveillance footage of the business break-ins noted similar clothes and sneakers worn by the perpetrator in each case, as well as a similar technique for punching out the lock and getting in and out of the stores quickly, before owners could be summoned by their alarm systems.

 

In one case, police found the metal cash drawer that Gladstone discarded two blocks away from the location of a break-in at a vape shop in Delta. Fingerprints on the drawer matched Gladstone’s.

Police put Gladstone under surveillance and on Jan. 2, 2019, officers observed him breaking into the closed Century Music School on Kingsway Avenue in Vancouver, his face concealed with a black scarf. He was arrested as he exited the shop, searched and found to be in possession of pliers, chisels, and hammer and cell phone, said Falloon. He was also carrying a box containing a guitar and a violin worth about $8,000 – which were both recovered.

Police later got a search warrant to obtain records from Gladstone’s cell phone company, which allowed them to track his movements during the three-month period by showing which cell tower was “pinging” his phone at particular times, Falloon noted. Those records – combined with his TransLink Compass Card travel history, which was also obtained by police – put Gladstone at the scenes of the nine stores at the time of the break-ins, Falloon noted.

Gladstone has a criminal record for similar offences.

Falloon pointed to the number of offences and the fact Gladstone was on probation at the time as aggravating factors in the case.

“He targets small businesses,” she said, because they are less likely to have sophisticated systems in place to prevent break-ins.

Many small businesses are already “close to bankruptcy” after being closed for months due to COVID-19, she added.

Rebecca Lin, Gladstone’s defence lawyer, said many of Gladstone’s problems come from using drugs as a crutch to deal with issues like his traumatic childhood – the result of his mother’s experience in the residential school system.

Judge Joanne Challenger agreed, and urged Gladstone to take advantage of indigenous support programs to help turn his life around.

Challenger sentenced Gladstone to time already served in jail, plus three years’ probation. Terms of probation include taking counseling, obeying a curfew between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. and staying away from illegal drugs and alcohol. Challenger also order Gladstone not to possess break-in tools, including pry bars, bolt cutters, pliers, blow torches, slim jims, night vision goggles and lock pickers. She also ordered him not to wear any disguises that cover his face, except those designed for medical use to contain the spread of COVID-19.