KAMLOOPS, B.C. — A man who went on a bizarre crime spree before taking on three deputy sheriffs while in custody has been sentenced to time served and must get treatment for a brain injury.
Jonathan Phillips, 39, spent a year in jail before pleading guilty to eight charges Thursday.
He was placed on 18 months' probation with conditions including one requiring him to be treated for his injury as directed by doctors.
B.C. Supreme Court heard Phillips, who is a competitive boxer and has a degree in psychiatric nursing, used a stolen credit card to rent a truck at the Kamloops airport in August 2014.
A week later, he stole a master key from a utilities room at a mall and later used it to enter a restricted area.
Last September, he broke into a home after high-centring a stolen truck. Police recovered it, with the key from the mall inside.
Phillips was arrested last October and released the following day on a number of bail conditions, including one barring him from visiting the mall.
Just over an hour after he got out of jail, Phillips walked into the manager’s office at a store in the mall and stole a jacket, which contained the manager’s keys to his pickup truck.
Phillips stole the vehicle and drove it to Kelowna, where he stole a $250,000 utility truck belonging to Fortis BC and checked into a hotel using another stolen credit card.
On Oct. 12, 2014, police located the Fortis BC truck in the hotel parking lot and went to Phillips’ room. He did not answer but set off the fire alarm before being taken into custody.
Five days later, while awaiting a bail hearing at the Kamloops law courts, Phillips ran out of his cell when a female deputy sheriff opened the door to feed him lunch.
He was attacked by three sheriffs in the booking area of the cellblock. Court heard the struggle went on for four minutes, with officers using batons and pepper spray in an attempt to subdue Phillips — all to no avail.
“Sheriffs were trying to overpower him,” said Crown lawyer Mariane Armstrong.
“He was actually overpowering all of them.
“One of the sheriffs describes them as running out of energy. At one point, there was the thought, ‘Are we going to have to use lethal force here?’”
Defence lawyer Sheldon Tate said Phillips, who has no previous criminal record, has an undiagnosed brain injury after a beating at the hands of bouncers at a Vancouver-area nightclub.
Court heard Phillips is in the process of suing the nightclub and having his injury diagnosed.
Phillips said the incident in the cellblock was due to his suffering a severe panic attack.
“I am sorry for all of the trouble I have caused,” he said. “I don’t like that. I have plead g
