KITCHENER — An apartment superintendent admitted breaking into three units in his building and stealing almost $10,000.

Phillip Warrington, 62, ripped off tenants at 55 Caroline St. N. in Waterloo to feed a drug habit. He had been prescribed an anti-anxiety medication and when it was taken off the market, he bought it on the street.

"I'm sorry for what happened," he told Justice Wayne Rabley.

After a few tenants reported cash missing from their apartments, police confronted Warrington and he confessed.

The judge said they were serious crimes because Warrington was in a position of trust.

"This was a good decision by you to co-operate with the police and to enter a guilty plea because it's the kind of case that a judge could really punish you on," he said.

"It would have been easy ... to look at a sentence of nine to 12 months."

Rabley agreed to a joint submission from the Crown and defence for six months in jail, minus two months of enhanced pre-sentence custody.

Thirteen units in the apartment building were rented for students at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, court was told. The institute had received numerous reports of thefts from the building over a long period of time, but police weren't called because there was no damage and no evidence pointing to the perpetrator.

A tenant did call police after a large amount of Japanese yen was stolen from a shoebox in his closet. Police began investigating. Other tenants also reported missing cash. The total amount taken was the equivalent of about $10,000.

Warrington, who also pleaded guilty to failing to attend court, admitted to break-ins in 2012, 2015 and 2016.

The judge said he hopes when Warrington gets out of jail he can stay off drugs and make good decisions.

"We don't want men of your vintage sitting where you are," Rabley told Warrington, handcuffed in the prisoner's box.

Warrington was ordered to give a DNA sample and faces a 10-year weapons ban. He must make restitution.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Rabley put him on probation for 18 months, but said he will end it after a year if Warrington follows all of the terms. The court should reward him for good behaviour, not just punish him for bad behaviour, Rabley said.