A 45-year-old heroin and cocaine addict who stole from charity and elderly women to feed his habit has been jailed for two and half years.

Eugene Floyd Anderson, of no fixed abode, changed his plea to guilty to seven counts of burglary and theft.

In a two-month crime spree, Anderson preyed on elderly women, one who was in the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, and the Agape House Charity, before being arrested on June 22.

On Saturday, May 12, students and their teacher from Victor Scott Primary School were selling tickets for the Agape House Charity's annual Rubber Duck Derby, outside Miles Market on Pitts Bay Road, Pembroke.

Held in St. George's every summer the Derby helps raise funds for the only care centre for terminally ill in Bermuda.

Magistrates' Court heard last week that when Anderson approached the table apparently trying to donate his money he grabbed the bag containing $700 in cash in front of the young volunteers, leaving both the students and their teacher shaken.

Before stealing from the charity, Anderson had entered Miles Market and placed a bottle of Dewar's Scotch Whiskey worth $33.85 in his bag and walked out the store. The incident was caught on surveillance tape.

Later the same day a 76-year-old woman walking along Serpentine Road in Pembroke was approached by Anderson who tried to grab her wallet.

Refusing to let go and screaming, Anderson eventually ran off empty-handed until he entered the hospital on May 18 at 8.10 p.m. Entering the room asking Jean Oughton, for a drink of water, the 78-year-old woman motioned towards a water bottle. Instead, though Anderson picked up her telephone where she kept $40 and took the money.

When she protested he returned $20, but took another $15 from Ms Oughton's drawer.

In three incidents of theft, Anderson entered the Calypso Store and took employee Lynn Fisher's black bag she had left behind the counter- making away with $100 in cash and her credit cards.

Also on May 15, Eudora Brown Zuill had parked her car outside Warwick preschool to pick up her grand-daughter and secured the vehicle.

However, when she looked outside she saw Anderson look through her Louis Vuitton bag she left in the car and take her wallet. Ms. Zuill ran out of the school after Anderson, who stopped, lifted up his shirt and handed her back the wallet.

Finally on June 19, Kevin Swan was working in Roberts Candy Store at 10.30 a.m. when he left to get some tools from his truck. He saw the defendant behind the counter but thought he was supposed to be there.

When he returned he saw Anderson leaving with a plastic bag that jangled and some coins fell on the floor from the bag, however the defendant made no move to pick them up. Ruigg Roberts, owner of the store, reported the incident to Police which cost him $15.00 in coins.

Police eventually arrested Anderson on Friday, June 22 at 6.30 a.m. and transported him to the Hamilton Police Station. In an interview with the Police on June 24, he confessed to all seven incidents.

When he first appeared in court on June 25 this year, however, he pleaded not guilty to all seven charges finally deciding against a trial on Wednesday morning.

Defence lawyer, Peter Farge, agreed with Crown counsel Robert Welling that Anderson was frank and forthcoming with the evidence.

Though he revealed even his wife had her bag stolen by Anderson and she had written a letter to the Magistrates' Court asking him not to sentence him to jail.

"I have a note from my wife who hoped they could help him with his manic depressive state, which is why he turns to heroin and cocaine," said Mr. Farge.

Magistrate Edward King, however, said his previous convictions started in 1976 and those who he targeted were the vulnerable. "He started his crime in 1976, then again in '82, '87, all the way through. He is almost a candidate for preventative imprisonment, he said.

"Stealing money from a charity and in front of young innocent minds- children, he's been a career criminal."

Mr. King then sentenced Anderson to a total of two and half years for all seven counts, warning him had he been in Supreme Court the sentencing could have been much worse.