A serial romance scammer was declared a harmful offender in an Edmonton courtroom Friday. The Alberta man defrauded victims of almost $200,000.
The justice believes he gained’t change his behaviour, which is a part of her motive for handing him a jail sentence with no finish date.
Fifty-five-year-old Jeffrey Paul Kent has greater than a dozen costs of fraud that span over 35 years in each British Columbia and Alberta, however the resolution to declare him a harmful offender comes from his romance scams.
Justice Melanie Hayes-Richard advised the court docket Friday that Kent destroyed the lives and funds of his victims and left them with extreme psychological hurt.
“He’s a serial fraudster. Convincing girls of lies and false guarantees to achieve entry to their financials. Mr. Kent is an achieved liar and grasp manipulator,” stated Hayes-Richard in her resolution.
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Kent met 5 of his victims via a web-based relationship web site. He would create false personas up to now the ladies, and would then inform them he had a wide range of completely different jobs. Hayes-Richard stated he would use “love-bombing ways.”
Kent would then ask them for cash. He would ask the victims for cash for enterprise alternatives, then didn’t pay again the cash, and typically stated that he had mind most cancers or seizure issues.
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The court docket heard that the majority instances, he would spend the cash playing on the on line casino or on horse races. Kent defrauded the ladies of greater than $170,000.
“Utilizing lie upon lie, he inserted himself into his victims’ lives, promising a shiny and safe future. As an alternative, he wreaked havoc,” stated Hayes-Richard.
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In declaring him a harmful offender, the justice stated nothing has succeeded in getting Kent to alter his behaviour and that she has little doubt he would return to romance scams. She additionally says he poses a menace to the well-being of others.
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“He’s totally detached to the impact of his prison behaviour on his victims and, in some circumstances, their kids. He has been handled for and intellectually understands his prison behaviour. He’s at excessive danger of reoffending by committing a critical private harm offence,” Hayes-Richard stated.
“There isn’t any different various raised by the proof that might adequately shield the general public towards the fee by Mr Kent of a critical private harm offence apart from an indeterminate sentence.”
Mount Royal College prison justice professor Doug King says harmful offender designations in Canada are uncommon.
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“It’s fairly a hurdle for the courts to satisfy. This clearly is a really critical offender that the court docket has determined, nope, you’re going to go away for an extended time period,” King stated.
Kent has been in custody since Sept. 24, 2018. He shall be eligible for his first parole listening to on that day this September. King says the prospect {that a} harmful offender is launched is uncommon.
“Though they’re eligible for parole, the presumption is that they’re not going to get it, except they’ve proven important assessed enchancment and the probability of them reoffending once more is zero,” King stated.
“To offer context, an individual who’s convicted of first-degree homicide in Canada is eligible for a parole at 25 years; most get out in the event that they apply for it. Most harmful offenders don’t get out. We’re speaking a couple of very completely different sort of offender inside the context of the prison justice system in Canada.”
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The justice additionally ordered Kent to make restitution to the ladies he defrauded.
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