Norfolk Man Sentenced to More Than 5 Years For 2022 Property Crimes, Probation Violation

NORFOLK, Va. – Today, a Norfolk judge sentenced 25-year-old Damian Berggren to an active five years and two months in prison for grand theft auto, three counts of credit card theft, and violation of probation following Mr. Berggren’s May jury conviction for property crimes he committed last fall.

In the early morning of Nov. 15, 2022, the victim — a Navy sailor and Willoughby Bay resident — was preparing to report for duty when she realized her Volkswagen Passat was missing. The victim was unable to identify who may have stolen her car. A few hours later, Mr. Berggren was identified by Norfolk Police as a suspect for unrelated property crimes less than one mile from Willoughby Bay.

Officers confronted Mr. Berggren near West Gilpin Avenue, and Mr. Berggren attempted to flee. The officers apprehended Mr. Berggren and, after searching him, found in his pockets three credit cards, two photo identification cards, and a car key belonging to the victim. The Passat was later recovered several blocks from where Mr. Berggren was arrested, but it had been damaged beyond repair.

Another Navy sailor and Willoughby Bay resident who spoke with police happened to have captured video of Mr. Berggren trying to gain entry to different vehicles, with the time and location of his video being just ten minutes before and less than 300 meters from where the victim realized her car was missing.

In May, a Norfolk jury found Mr. Berggren guilty as charged of grand larceny of an automobile and three counts of credit card theft. On Friday, Judge Mary Jane Hall sentenced Mr. Berggren to two years and seven months in prison for those charges, with an additional 11 years suspended on the conditions that Mr. Berggren complete four years of uniform good behavior and an indeterminate period of supervised probation. Mr. Berggren was also found in violation of his probation for prior unrelated offenses and was sentenced to an additional active two years and seven months in prison.

“Mr. Berggren will now pay his debt for victimizing one of our servicemembers and adding to the nationwide increase in car thefts,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “We appreciate the work of the jury and judge in holding Mr. Berggren accountable.”

Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney J. Drew Fairbanks prosecuted Mr. Berggren’s case on behalf of the Commonwealth.

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