Convicted Ball Slasher's Sentence Stayed
DULUTH, Minn. (WCCO/AP) -- A Duluth man who pleaded guilty to breaking and entering a fitness center to satisfy his fetish for slashing exercise balls had his prison sentence stayed.
Christopher Neil Bjerkness, 34, was sentenced to 23 months in prison for breaking into the Northwoods Chester Creek Academy last May, according to the Duluth News Tribune.
He told police at the time he needed to find a bathroom when he crawled through a window at the fitness center. The criminal complaint says a staff member found him near the exercise balls.
Reports say Bjerkness had his sentence stayed. Instead, he will spend four years on supervised probation, receiving treatment at a group home for people with traumatic brain injuries.
Bjerkness's criminal record includes convictions in 2005, 2006 and 2009 for entering fitness and physical therapy settings and damaged exercise balls. In one incident, he slashed more than 70 exercise balls at the University of Minnesota Duluth's fitness center with a knife.
After his 2009 conviction, Bjerkness told the Duluth News Tribune he couldn't explain his fetish. He said he suffered from bipolar depression, fetal alcohol syndrome and cerebral palsy, which was confirmed by his adoptive parents.
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