A man who grabbed the breast of a paramedic in Maple Ridge more than two years ago has been designated a dangerous offender.
Ryan Glen Ziegler received the designation Thursday, two years after he was convicted of sexual assault.
The designation means the 33-year-old Ziegler, a convicted sex offender, received an indeterminate jail sentence.
“He will remain in custody until such time as the parole board feels that it is safe for him to be released into the community,” said Neil MacKenzie of the provincial Criminal Justice Branch.
As a dangerous offender, Ziegler won’t be able to apply for parole for seven years.
RCMP arrested Ziegler at Ridge Meadows Hospital in May 2007 after a female paramedic reported she was sexually assaulted while trying to treat him in the back of an ambulance.
During a trial, the court learned Ziegler had called 911 claiming he was afraid he had overdosed on “six caps of ecstasy and two lines of cocaine.”
Two paramedics – a woman and man – responded and found Ziegler leaning against the wall of a building near 224th Street in Maple Ridge. Ziegler told them he had been drinking that evening and had also consumed drugs. He wanted to visit the hospital to be checked.
As per Emergency Health Services policy, the paramedics transported Ziegler to the emergency room.
The female paramedic’s partner checked Ziegler and noted in a crew report that he saw no signs Ziegler had consumed alcohol or drugs. The court heard Ziegler’s blood pressure and pulse were normal. He was lucid and alert.
The female paramedic testified Ziegler grabbed her left breast while she was escorting him to the emergency room. He apologized three times immediately after and begged her not to call police.
Ziegler refused to testify at his trial.
Ziegler’s criminal record contains convictions for a list of similar offences. B.C. Corrections has issued at least four advisory notices about him since 2002.
At 28, Ziegler had more than 80 criminal charges on his recording, including several counts of assault, sexual assault and committing indecent acts. A B.C. Corrections advisory issued in 2005 said Ziegler poses a high-risk to re-offend.
In 1998, Ziegler was charged with assault after exposing himself to a nine-year-old girl in an Edmonton church. He was released from jail in February 2001 with 71 convictions to his name.
In August 2001, he was sentenced to a year in jail for sexually assaulting a woman in a Calgary tanning salon.
On July 15, 2004, Ziegler was released from jail after serving time for assaulting a 10-year-old girl and a police officer in Nelson in 2003
On July 25, 2004, he was arrested for exposing himself and sexually assaulting a woman in Nanaimo.
He was released on Aug. 25, 2004, when the charges for the July 25 attack were stayed due to the victim becoming emotionally incapable of testifying.
On Aug. 31, 2004, he was arrested in Victoria on a charge of committing an indecent act.
He was released on Sept. 22, 2004 after serving his sentence.
Ziegler has been in custody since assaulting the paramedic in May 2007.
