A man has pleaded guilty to an orchestrated string of attacks on 15 families across the Lower Mainland.

Vincent Cheung of Langley admitted to 18 charges stemming from arson and shootings at homes and vehicles between April 2011 and January 2012.

Reading from an agreed statement of facts, Crown attorney Joe Bellows told B.C. Supreme Court the man hired and directed others and might have personally participated in the attacks.

Bellows says most victims were at home and several were sleeping during the attacks, but nobody was injured or killed.

He says one victim was a retired chief of police for West Vancouver.

Investigators spent four years piecing together the mysterious crimes, which they have said appeared to involve random victims but who were ultimately linked to the British Columbia Justice Institute, which offers training for people working in public safety including police officers and firefighters.