Yellowknife (Dec 20/06) - A Yellowknife man was sentenced to five years in prison last Wednesday after being convicted on 21 charges of breaking and entering.

Eric Wardell, 38, pleaded guilty in November to breaking into more than 20 Yellowknife businesses over a two-year period.

According to the agreed statement of facts, from Aug. 9 2004 to April 1, 2006, Wardell committed 21 break-ins, stealing 21 laptops, five digital cameras, and cash - $10,000 from Stanton Territorial Hospital alone.

He even stole from the Roman Catholic Diocese, and that incident eventually led to his arrest, as fingerprints taken at that scene matched Wardell's.

Wardell was given 18 months' credit for the nine months he spent in jail awaiting trial. He has three and a half years left to serve on his sentence.

Wardell was arrested April 1, 2006 while walking behind the Gold Range Bar, according to court documents.

In a statement to police at the time of his arrest, Wardell said he had "been doing crime for years. I have gotten away with a lot, so this is fair." He also said he stole to support a crack cocaine habit.

"He was arrested following a lengthy investigation into a number of break-and-enters and safe-cracking incidents," RCMP Const. Colleen Werrell told media at the time of Wardell's arrest.

She added that a national computer system introduced during the investigation helped police draw links between similar files.

Wardell also faced a number of charges for crimes committed in Alberta from 1996 to 1998, which were transferred to the NWT court so that all the charges could be dealt with at once. These charges included possession of stolen property, theft, breach of probation and failure to attend court.

He was sentenced to six months in jail for those charges, which he will serve at the same time as his sentence for his Yellowknife offences.