BY KEITH LACEY
Three years after defrauding a local bank of almost $22,000, a Sudbury man was sentenced to nine months in jail Tuesday.
Stephen Allen, 41, pleaded guilty in May after the Crown had presented its case during three days of testimony from a variety of witnesses. Allen was
charged with defrauding the New Sudbury branch of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce as part of a complicated scheme.
Court heard after someone had stolen a cheque for $22,000 from a post office in Toronto, the cheque was altered and deposited into Allen?s account.
The money from that account was then dispersed to several other bank accounts around the city and spent.
The Crown couldn?t prove who stole the cheque or that Allen had altered the cheque, but the plea of guilt following testimony from several Crown witnesses speaks volumes, said assistant Crown attorney Andrew Slater.
Justice Robert Del Frate of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice said defence counsel Craig Ticalo?s request for a conditional sentence of 12 months to be served in the community with harsh restrictions is not appropriate in this case.
The message must be sent to this accused and all members of society that if you engage in a complicated and sophisticated scheme that involved a significant amount of money, there will be a serious price to pay, said Del Frate.
A pre-sentence report clearly indicates Allen ?still does not accept responsibility? for what transpired during this fraud scheme and tends to blame others, said Del Frate.
?It?s time for you to start accepting responsibility,? he said.
Besides the nine-month jail term, Del Frate made a stand alone restitution order in the amount of $22,000. However, he mentioned he doubts very much this accused will be able to repay the money since he?s in deep debt and doesn?t have any solid employment history.
Ticalo had asked the court to impose a conditional sentence or intermittent sentence of 90 days or less to be served on weekends.
Allen has just recently been hired by a trucking company and obtained full-time work for the first time in a long time, but had only been on the job for about a week, said Ticalo.
The fact he had found this job didn?t factor into his considerations on the appropriate sentence, said Del Frate, as it appeared Allen made little or no attempt to find work since pleading guilty to this charge back in May.
Allen has also accumulated a somewhat dubious criminal record over the past seven years, including two convictions for assault and another for break and enter.
The pre-sentence report prepared by a probation officer didn?t have a lot of positive aspects to it and considering all the circumstances, the Crown?s request for a nine-month jail sentence was appropriate, he said.
