BY KEITH LACEY
A Crown attorney wants a former Sudbury car dealer to go to jail for up to two years for his involvement in a Quebec-based auto theft ring.
Richard Toulouse was found guilty in July of selling stolen vehicles and vehicles made up largely of stolen auto parts.
Toulouse?s lawyer says his client is no danger to the community and has already suffered enormous losses. Since this is his first serious conviction,
he should be allowed to serve his sentence in the community.
After hearing a full day of submissions from defence counsel Craig Fleming and assistant Crown attorney Diana Fuller Friday, Justice Randalle Lalande said he needed time to make a decision and will render his decision Jan. 12.
Lalande found Toulouse guilty of six counts of possession of stolen property and four counts of fraud over $5,000. Toulouse was found not guilty on four other counts.
A sentence in the range of 18 months to two years less a day is called for, Fuller said. Toulouse was directly involved in orchestrating a complex plan to work with an organized auto theft ring and should be punished harshly to deter others, she said.
Det. Const. John Talbot said organized auto theft rings have become so commonplace, the OPP has organized a full-time auto theft squad to battle the growing criminal activity.
?There?s a staggering amount of stolen vehicles...it?s good money and it?s pure profit,? he said.
Leaders of biker gangs and ethnic gangs will often get teenage thieves to steal vehicles ranging from $25,000 to $100,000 and pay them less than $1,000 for their efforts, said Talbot.
The vehicles are often brought to chop shops so they can?t be identified. They are then sent overseas or to other areas of the country and sold for enormous profits. It took more than two years of investigation by numerous police forces to investigate Toulouse?s case alone, he said.
Toulouse lost his auto dealership business, his marriage fell apart and the publicity surrounding this case has badly damaged his reputation, said Fleming. Toulouse is now working to make his new business, where he sells and trades recreational vehicles, a success, the defence lawyer said.
Toulouse grew up in poverty. Many of his actions were not necessarily with criminal intent, but ?more willful blindne ss...in order to succeed,? Fleming said.
Toulouse wants to repay all his victims, he said. In all the circumstances, an appropriate sentence would be a conditional sentence to be served in the community of between 15 and 18 months with strict restrictions on his freedom, said Fleming.
Fuller noted that Toulouse is not poor. He owns a home valued at over $200,000, a cottage near Sturgeon Falls worth in excess of $150,000, a speed boat worth $65,000 US and a new Harley Davidson worth a minimum $30,000. It was later revealed Toulouse has big mortgages on all these
purchases and a personal debt in excess of $850,000.
The courts must send a clear message to other people considering getting involved with auto theft rings there?s a serious price to pay, said Fuller.
Fleming called two character witnesses and introduced nine letters of support for his client.
On almost every count, Toulouse testified he didn?t know most of the people he was dealing with to bring vehicles and parts to his dealership. He said he met them at auto auctions in Ontario and Quebec and trusted the people he worked with. He was a victim in many instances.
Lalande didn?t buy Toulouse?s evidence.
?It?s almost unbelievable he would purchase a vehicle under these circumstances,? said the judge.
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