A young man with a long record despite his young age was sentenced to six months in jail Friday.
Norman Beaucage, 23, pleaded guilty to forging the signature on time sheets at his workplace, stealing a van and failing to appear for court. Court heard Beaucage forged the signature of his boss and got paid for 34 hours of work when he wasn?t on the job over a three-week period last March.
In late January of this year, Beaucage failed to appear in court on the fraud charges and in early April, he and another young man were caught in possession of a stolen van taken from the driveway of a Sudbury residence. The van was valued at $7,500.
Defence counsel Glenn Sandberg said his client is a father of two young children and does have construction work available, so he asked Justice Guy Mahaffy to recommend temporary absence so he can continue to work and return to jail at night to serve a six-month sentence.
Assistant Crown attorney Kara Vakiparta said Beaucage was in court for stealing from an employer and, in her opinion, has lost his right to ask for temporary absence.
Mahaffy said a six-month sentence was appropriate in all the circumstances. Beaucage can ask jail officials to release him to work during the day, but he won?t endorse any such recommendation because of his long criminal record, he said.
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