Leamington and Kingsville are considering withholding payment to the company that conducted Internet voting this election after results came in hours later than expected.

“I’m very disappointed,” said Leamington clerk Brian Sweet, who is bearing the brunt of complaints in his municipality about how long it took to release voting results Monday night.

“We were under the impression we would have our results between 8:30 and quarter to nine, possibly, before 8:30,” Sweet said. Instead, like in Kingsville and Tecumseh, results were not released to waiting crowds until close to 11 p.m.

“What was frustrating for us was we were not getting results and we weren’t getting any information or time estimates either,” Sweet said. “We didn’t understand what the problem was.”

Internet voting in Leamington, Kingsville and Tecumseh — as well as other municipalities across Ontario — was conducted by a company called Scytl. Scytl put out a statement Tuesday explaining the delays in reporting results.

“We can now confirm that our quality assurance process detected an inconsistency in the naming of certain election results files,” wrote Brian O’Connor, general manager of Scytl’s North American operations. “Upon the detection of an anomaly, Scytl reran the tabulation and conducted a thorough manual audit.”

The “vague” letter did not satisfy Sweet. He said even the letter was late — by 12 to 15 hours.

“I’m not sure what that means,” said Sweet of Scytl’s explanation.

The letter’s author was unavailable for comment Monday. But the company’s vice-president of marketing, contacted in Virginia, said he regrets the unfortunate wording of the letter.

“That statement was not great,” Bo O’Dea told The Star. “People are seizing on that word anomaly.”

O’Dea said there is no question that the election results were accurate. “They are 100 per cent accurate,” he said.

What happened was a worker handling the computer files gave some the wrong names. “Election Area A was labelled Area B,” O’Dea explained. Rather than rename the files and send them out to the proper municipalities, the company decided to retabulate all the elections to make sure the results were accurate.

“To be sure, we had to rerun the election again.”

O’Dea could not say Tuesday how many other municipalities outside Essex County were affected, nor could he supply the number of elections in Ontario Scytl conducted.

In Kingsville, Mayor Nelson Santos said he is “not pleased” with the company’s performance, nor its response. He said for future elections, the town will look to “other providers, as well.”

Santos said the town has held back part of the payment to Scytl. He said the town will have its clerk, who is also a lawyer, review the contract. “We may determine that Scytl didn’t meet their commitments to us,” he said.

Sweet said he has a bill sitting on his desk from Scytl for about $17,000. “We’re still withholding at least half the payment,” he said.

Leamington Mayor John Paterson said he heard lots of compliments about the “ease of access” of Internet voting, but the delay in getting results was “unacceptable.”

Of using Scytl’s services in the future, Paterson echoed Santos, saying, “They’ll have to either clean up their act or we’ll find another provider.”

In some cases, Canada Post was slow in delivering the letters to electors which contained the information to allow them to access electronic voting. And the voters list — developed from the province’s Municipal Property Assessment Corporation — was strewn with errors including wrong addresses, wrong dates of birth or electors simply having been dropped for no apparent reason.

“There’s a lot of things that happened,” said Santos. He said the town will consider “multiple options” for voting in the future.

Neither Tecumseh’s mayor nor clerk returned calls from The Star Tuesday.

ssacheli@windsorstar.com

A Tecumseh-based trainer caught injecting performance-enhancing drugs into a horse in 2010 has been convicted of fraud by the Ontario Court of Appeal.

Derek Riesberry is the first person in Canada to go before the criminal courts for horse doping.

After a lengthy trial that began in 2012, Riesberry was acquitted last year by Superior Court Justice Steven Rogin. Despite finding that Riesberry was a cheat, Rogin found him not guilty of two counts of fraud, saying the Crown had not proven that the betting public had been deprived of anything.

In a decision released this week after a Crown appeal, the Ontario Court of Appeal found Rogin had erred in his decision. The appellate court set aside the acquittals and substituted guilty verdicts. The court has referred the case back to Rogin for sentencing.

“The betting public was deprived of information about the race that they were entitled to know; they were deprived of an honest race run in accordance with the rules,” the court of appeal found.

The court has also ordered a new trial on two counts of cheating at play.

On Sept. 28, 2010, Riesberry was videotaped by hidden camera injecting something into the neck of a horse at Windsor Raceway. The horse raced about an hour later, placing sixth.

A few weeks later, on Nov. 7, 2010, Riesberry was arrested as he entered the racetrack. A syringe filled with performance-enhancing drugs – epinephrine and clenbuterol – was found in his truck.

Reisberry was charged with fraud, attempted fraud, cheating at play and attempting to cheat at play.

In the past, such breaches would be dealt with as licence infractions at regulatory tribunals. But in a crackdown by the Ontario Racing Commission, Riesberry and fellow trainer Chris Haskell were charged criminally.

Haskell’s trial had been adjourned, awaiting the outcome of Riesberry’s trial and appeal.

Both Riesberry and Haskell hired the same lawyer to represent them. He could not be reached for comment, nor could the head of the Ontario Racing Commission to whom calls were referred.

In acquitting Riesberry, Rogin had delved into the legal meanings of the word “game.”

He concluded horse racing is not a game because it relies on skill rather than chance.

“In our view, the trial judge erred in his interpretation of a game,” the court of appeal ruled. “The trial judge erred in law by applying the wrong legal test to determine whether horse racing was a game of mixed chance and skill.”

On appeal, the Crown cited starting post positions — drawn by lot or by a computerized random post position generator — as an example of chance.

“Certain post positions are more advantageous than others in that the advantageous positions provide shorter distances to travel,” the court of appeal said. “Accordingly, in relation to the cheating while playing a game charges, we set aside the acquittals and order a new trial.”

Riesberry and Haskell’s cases will be spoken to in Superior Court in November to set dates.

ssacheli@windsorstar.com or on Twitter @WinStarSacheli

Local parents – one from every school – will have a say as the province revamps the sex education curriculum that will be taught to their children beginning next year.

The province announced Thursday that it will be surveying 4,000 parents as it updates its health and physical education curriculum. The province has already consulted with teachers and other stakeholders in preparation for the new curriculum to be taught in elementary schools beginning September 2015.

The “growth and development” curriculum currently being taught in elementary schools was developed in 1998, before the widespread use of social media and smartphones, the province says. Students need a “current, relevant and age-appropriate” curriculum to help them “thrive in today’s rapidly changing and connected world,” the Ministry of Education says.

The province tried to introduce a new curriculum in 2010, but faced angry backlash from parents who said it introduced some information too early. For example, children were to be taught about homosexuality in Grade 3 and oral and anal sex in Grade 7.

The province has said parents will be able to complete a “secure survey,” but it’s unclear how the parent from each school will be selected.

A driver charged with first-degree murder in the death of his friend was released on bail Friday.

Andrew Cowan, 42, of Leamington, was arrested Monday, more than two years after the crash on Talbot Street West at the intersection of Fraser Road and Oak Street. He had been held in custody until Superior Court Justice Bruce Thomas ordered him released Friday.

Cowan was the driver of a pickup truck that flew into the roof of an abandoned business about 1:45 a.m. on Oct. 21, 2012. According to reports at the time of the crash, the black 2007 Ford F-150 had been speeding down County Road 34, also known as Talbot Street, climbed the curb at the irregular intersection and drove over a ramp-shaped flower bed planted by the Leamington Horticultural Society.

Edward Witt, 53, was Cowan’s passenger. Witt died six days after the crash.

Cowan appeared in court Friday, smiling as he sat in the prisoner’s box, deep scars visible on his shaved head.

A court-imposed ban prohibits publication of evidence heard at the bail hearing. The charge of first-degree murder suggests police believe the death was planned and deliberate.

Cowan was released into the custody of his two aunts. He must live with one or the other of the Kingsville women at all times and must abide by an 8 p.m. curfew.

Cowan is not to drive any motorized vehicle.

He can’t drink or possess alcohol or attend any place where alcohol is served. He cannot go to any casino or log onto any online gambling site.

He is to possess no weapons or cellphone and he cannot contact witnesses in his case.

ssacheli@windsorstar.com

A Kingsville man whose idea of a man cave was a basement full of computers containing child pornography pleaded guilty Friday.

Robert Denza, 46, had 328 still images and 34 videos of children as young as five engaged in sexual acts, bestiality and bondage. He kept the files on eight computers in the basement of his Bayview Avenue home.

“It was a man-cave, so to speak,” said assistant Crown attorney Gary Nikota, detailing Denza’s crimes in Superior Court Friday.

Denza was arrested in March 2011 after police probing a peer-to-peer site found images of child pornography being shared. They discovered six images circulating on one particular date in February had been unloaded by Denza. When police raided Denza’s home, they found the images were just a sampling of the man’s collection.

Denza pleaded guilty Friday to one count of making child pornography available — one of six charges he faces. Superior Court Justice Bruce Thomas has ordered a background report on Denza that he will consider before sentencing the man in January.

A young man who participated in a violent home invasion that has left his victims in emotional turmoil was sentenced Friday to five years in a federal penitentiary.

Jalen Lloyd Elliott-Strain, 22, was one of four men who burst into an Ellrose Avenue home at gunpoint in the middle of the night last year. He held a 33-year-old woman captive, threatening her with death, while his accomplices dragged her boyfriend to the basement and tortured him with a cordless drill.

The intruders — which included Percy Basil Scott, 37, Maurice Germaine Heptbourne, 24, and Charles William Langdon, 21 — demanded drugs and money.

They had the wrong house.

Such a “heinous” crime, which could happen to anyone, strikes fear in a community, said Superior Court Justice Bruce Thomas.

“This is a despicable offence,” the judge said. “This was a horrific violation of totally innocent people.”

The couple was in bed on Feb. 21, 2013, when they were awoken by loud bangs and the sound of footsteps rushing toward them.

They dragged the man to the basement and kept the woman upstairs instructing her to bury her face in a pillow. She was clutching her dog, which they ripped from her grasp.

They threatened to kill her pet. They threatened to cut off her toes.

From the basement, she could hear the anguished cries of her boyfriend who was being stabbed in the legs. They used a cordless drill to puncture holes in his back.

Once the intruders discovered they had the wrong house, they ransacked the house, taking alcohol, jewelry, cellphones and passports.

In a statement read into court by the judge, the woman told of how the life she and her boyfriend had been trying to build was shattered. She and her boyfriend intended to marry and start a family.

He now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. He was physically unable to work for several months after the attack, so she was forced to return to work much sooner than she was emotionally ready to.

A carefree woman who used to love sleeping with the windows open is now afraid of the dark.

The judge, his anger palpable, told Elliott-Strain that every day he is in jail, he should think of his victims and what he has done to them.

Thomas gave the Elliott-Strain mandatory enhanced credit for the more than 20 months he has spent in jail. He sentenced the young man to a further two years and five months in prison.

His accomplices each received nine-year prison sentences.

Elliott-Strain had a limited criminal record that included one conviction for breaching the conditions of a conditional discharge. He received the lenient sentence for a mischief charge.

His accomplices, on the other hand, are seasoned criminals. Scott, for example, has 92 prior convictions.

Police had caught the foursome by viewing surveillance video from a taxi cab they took to the Ellrose Avenue address. Elliott-Strain, in his statement to police, identified the men in the video, but when it came to testify at their trial, he was less than forthcoming.

Defence lawyer Linda McCurdy told the judge Elliott-Strain fell into the wrong crowd at 17 after his mother died.

Said Thomas: “There is no excuse for this type of behaviour.”

ssacheli@windsorstar.com

A man who threw a shopping bag full of firearms and ammunition from a moving vehicle before police took him down at gunpoint wants to serve his sentence in the comfort of his home.

Gurfathe Singh Kooner, better known as Laddi Kooner, 29, asked Superior Court Justice Joseph Quinn Monday for a conditional sentence, commonly referred to as house arrest.

At worst, argued defence lawyer Laura Joy, the judge should get “creative” and sentence Kooner to a 90-day sentence to be served in jail on weekends followed by a period of house arrest. The total sentence should not exceed two years less a day, Joy argued.

The Crown is asking for a sentence of five to six years in a federal penitentiary.

Kooner was convicted last year of 15 firearms offences related to a high-risk takedown on Mulberry Road in Forest Glade in November, 2009. Police had received a tip that Kooner had guns, so they followed the Ford F-150 he was driving as he pulled away from his Manning Road home. Before the pickup truck stopped, Kooner was seen throwing a bag out the window. The bag was later discovered to contain a Smith & Wesson handgun, a Taurus handgun, a high-capacity magazine and a sock full of bullets.

Kooner continues to proclaim his innocence, saying he was set up by police. Kooner testified during his trial that he had been harassed by Windsor police Const. Tony Smith, the then chief’s son, and he believes a man named Harpinder Sian had left the bag with him as part of the set up.

Kooner said he had no idea what was in the bag, but that Sian repeatedly called him asking Kooner to deliver it to him.

Kooner said he assumed the bag contained colostomy supplies for Sian’s cousin, Opinder, a gang affiliate from Vancouver who had been shot in the stomach.

In September, Kooner was the subject of a home invasion in which his sister was shot. His therapist, psychologist Saadia Ahmad, testified Monday that she has been treating Kooner and that he suffers from acute stress disorder as a result of the traumatic event.

Court also heard Monday that Kooner runs a company called Phantom Excavating Ltd. His company has a contract with Amico as part of the Herb Gray Parkway project.

Joy argued that Kooner’s company will shut down without him at the helm and 25 to 30 people will be out of work.

“The sentence you impose on this young man will affect many people,” Joy told the judge.

Joy also said another of Kooner’s sisters has terminal cancer. Having exhausted treatment options here, Kooner has paid the $76,000 cost of stem cell replacement treatment in India to save her life.

He is also helping to care for the woman’s triplets, which include one child with “severe disabilities,” Joy said.

Joy also argued Kooner should also receive a reduced sentence because “police used unnecessary force” during his arrest. Court heard Monday that Kooner was booked into Windsor jail with abrasions to his cheek and knees and tenderness to his ribs.

Kooner can be trusted to abide by the conditions of house arrest because he has been on “strict” bail conditions for the past five years, Joy argued.

But assistant Crown attorney Elizabeth Brown pointed out that Kooner has one breach of his bail conditions and was in breach of three court-imposed weapons prohibitions when he was caught with the bag of guns and ammunition.

As for his arrest, Brown reminded the judge of police testimony that Kooner was unco-operative during his arrest. One officer had to force Kooner to the ground before dragging him to a safe position.

Kooner has six prior convictions – three for assault and three for failing to comply with bail conditions.

Brown urged Justice Quinn not to acquiesce to the defence position on sentencing. “You can’t, not with these facts and with these aggravating factors.”

Quinn will sentence Kooner next week.

ssacheli@windsorstar.com or Twitter @WinStarSacheli

The United Way has just kicked off its annual fundraising campaign and with it, is looking at its accomplishments of the last five years. One of its successes is its food security strategy. It spends about $500,000 a year on four initiatives: food banks, food rescue, community gardens and community kitchens. Here’s more on each:

Food banks

In 2010, the United Way spent $40,000 to develop a database to track food bank usage in Windsor and Essex County. “It gives us a snapshot of the people using the food bank, how often they use it and their background,” said Lorraine Goddard, the United Way’s chief executive officer. The information helps the charity develop other programs Goddard said. “The data helps us answer the question, ‘What other supports do we need to support these families.’”

In Windsor and Essex County, the Unemployed Help Centre is what Goddard refers to as the “hub” for food bank donations. It collects most of the food, then redistributes it to 18 other food banks in the area.

Food banks are changing too, from offering only packaged and canned food to more fresh food, dairy and meat.

Volunteer Dave Hayes stocks items at the Downtown Mission on Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2012, in the organization’s food bank. (DAN JANISSE/The Windsor Star)

Food Rescue

Greenhouses can’t sell cucumbers that aren’t perfectly straight or vine tomatoes with fewer than five fruit on a stem. Ditto for peppers that have even the smallest of blemishes. That produce used to go to landfill. Enter the United Way’s food rescue strategy. With a refrigerated truck donated to the Unemployed Help Centre, all that healthy produce is now collected. The United Way has also developed partnerships with traditional farms, fisheries, food processing plants and banquet halls who donate their surplus as part of the food rescue strategy. In the last two years alone, about 2,000 tonnes of perfectly nutritious food has been “rescued” – diverted from waste and used to feed people in need. Other food rescuers are included in the program, Goddard said. Produce too far gone to be put on food bank shelves goes to Gleaner organizations that dehydrate it for use later.

Chef Robert Catherine, a culinary instructor at the Unemployed Help Centre’s Plentiful Harvest Program on September 9, 2013 in Windsor. The Plentiful Harvest Program offers free fresh fruit and vegetables to people in need.(JASON KRYK/The Windsor Star)

Community Kitchens

There are 12 community kitchens across Windsor and Essex County – at least one in each municipality – where people can go to learn to cook nutritious meals. Often the recipes use vegetables on offer at local food banks. “What’s the point in giving someone zucchini if they don’t know what to do with it?” said Goddard. These community kitchens also use produce from the food rescue program, she said. “If we get a glut of tomatoes, they make pasta sauce or tomato soup.”

Students Marissa Ippolito, left, Savy Margaret, Samantha Duguay, Payton Mercer and Jasmin Green display food they recently prepared at the Unemployed Help Centre’s Community Kitchen in Windsor. (DAN JANISSE / The Windsor Star)

Community Gardens

In 2010, there were exactly three communal gardens where residents could go and grow their own food. Seeing it as a chance to build neighbourhoods as well as increase food security, the United Way now funds 25 such gardens throughout Windsor and Essex County. Apartment dwellers now have a patch of land to grow their own veggies. Hobby gardeners can take the food home, or donate it to the food banks and community kitchens.

Stephen Johnson, 17, works in the Bruce Park Community Vegetable Garden on Tuesday, July 22, 2014 in Windsor, Ont. The city is would like to see more gardens in the community. (DAN JANISSE/The Windsor Star)

ssacheli@windsorstar.com

A Lakeshore girl who had a friend videotape her beating up another girl in a public park in the summer was ordered Wednesday to take anger-management counselling and be under court supervision for the next six months.

The girl, who cannot be identified under provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act, was also subjected to a sarcastic tirade by the sentencing judge who warned her to never again use violence to settle a dispute.

“Where did you get the idea that you can do whatever you want to whomever you want?” Ontario court Justice Micheline Rawlins shouted at the 14-year-old girl in court. The girl seemed undaunted as the judge lit into her, and explained to Rawlins that her victim had once been her friend and had begun “spreading rumours” about her.

But the judge continued: “It’s a good thing your family didn’t keep guns… Why not shoot her?”

The girl met her victim at Lions Park in Belle River in July. She brought along a friend who used her cellphone to capture the encounter on video. The girl approached her victim and began taunting her, saying, “What would you do if I punched you?”

The girl then struck her victim in the head repeatedly.

“Normal people don’t do that,” the judge said. “You don’t seem to have that grasp.”

Court heard the girl’s parents are estranged. Both sat together in court Wednesday. The girl and her mother left court smiling.

The girl, who pleaded guilty to assault, will be under the supervision of a youth court worker for the next six months. She must take anger-management classes and whatever other counselling her worker recommends.

She is to possess no weapons and she can’t communicate directly or indirectly with her victim. Court heard the girl and her victim are in the same grade in high school and may have incidental contact, for which the judge made an exception.

Rawlins gave the girl a discharge, meaning if she abides by the court conditions, she will have no criminal record.

Rawlins also ordered the girl to pay a mandatory $100 fine that goes into a fund to support victims of crime.

ssacheli@windsorstar.com

Many OPP officers are refusing to work on Pelee Island, citing unsafe conditions for both themselves and the people they arrest.

Inspectors from the Ontario Ministry of Labour visited the island Wednesday to investigate formal complaints from officers. They toured the house where the makeshift police detachment is located on the second floor.

The visit came as a surprise to island Mayor Rick Masse, who was on the mainland Wednesday attending a conference. But, Masse said, the officers’ complaints are nothing new.

“I’m aware there are issues,” he said. “We’re a small community. We don’t have a lot of facilities.”

The police detachment is nothing like any other in Essex County. There are no cells, private area for prisoners to make calls to lawyers, or even a washroom for them to use.

Officers are instructed to hold prisoners in the back seat of the cruiser until the OPP boat can come and retrieve them.

If someone is in the back seat when another emergency call comes in, officers have to take the prisoner along for the ride.

“That opens up a whole can of worms, doesn’t it?” said Maria Carroccia, president of the Windsor-Essex Criminal Lawyers’ Association. “There are questions of officer safety, but do you want to leave a prisoner unattended in the back of the car? It seems there are liability issues.”

One man arrested in a domestic incident on Labour Day weekend spent more than five hours in the back seat of the cruiser. That incident is what finally prompted officers to call in the Ministry of Labour.

“All those circumstances could become an issue,” Carroccia said. She said the treatment of prisoners on Pelee Island – through no fault of the arresting officers – could be deemed unconstitutional. “I don’t want to go so far as to say it’s inhumane, but it seems there’s duress.”

Insp. Glenn Miller, the commanding officer of the OPP’s Essex detachment, did not return calls for comment from The Star on Wednesday. Instead, a police spokesman from London answered inquiries by directing calls to the Ministry of Labour.

“The matter is for the MOL to comment on,” said Sgt. Dave Rektor. “That is the OPP position/comment. We are not trying to say anything other than that at this point.”

The Ministry of Labour did not return calls from The Star on Wednesday, nor did the head of the union that represents local OPP officers.

The island pays $84,000 a year for policing. For that sum, two police officers are on the island four days a week during the summer. The days of the week vary, and Masse said neither he nor the island’s community policing committee know the schedule in advance.

Officers are also scheduled to work on the island during the annual pheasant hunt and on the long weekend in May. Officers might be on duty there on other weekends sporadically throughout the year if the lake is clear of ice.

During the winter, police will fly to the island to respond to emergency calls only.

Officers who used to volunteer to work on the island have stopped, leaving police management no choice but to order others to do so. The officers usually assigned to the island are younger officers with less seniority.

While assigned to the island, officers live and work out of a converted house. Municipal offices are on the ground floor and the makeshift police detachment is above them.

Masse said he could see police being forced to provide proper holding facilities for prisoners, but hopes his community isn’t saddled with the cost.

No one Wednesday could provide statistics on the number of arrests made on the island.

ssacheli@windsorstar.com or 519-255-5509

Sexters, thieves, bullies and teens dabbling in drugs and alcohol – Youth Diversion has seen them all.

The local agency that last year offered counselling programs to 319 troubled youths is finding its clientele is getting younger, and every year, their problems are more complex. The agency finds itself at a point where it needs to raise its profile and some money to tackle issues executive director Joanna Conrad calls epidemic.

To that end, the agency next week is hosting a $65-a-plate luncheon at Caesars Windsor featuring bestselling author Sharon Moroney as the guest speaker. Moroney’s former husband was a rapist and murderer. The Ontario woman’s pursuit of justice resonates with Conrad and anyone else who deals with crime and punishment.

“She talks about restorative justice, giving victims a voice,” Conrad said. That’s what diversion is all about.

One of the eight programs offered by Youth Diversion makes young lawbreakers meet face-to-face with the victims of their crimes.

“We make them accountable,” Conrad says. “That will stick with you more than community service hours.” It also helps the victims move on. They can ask the perpetrators of a break-in for example, questions about the motivation behind the crime. “It gives them, the victims, some peace.”

Youth Diversion referrals used to come only from players in the justice system – police officers and criminal prosecutors. The agency now takes referrals from teachers, principals, other agencies and even parents themselves.

There are programs for youths with mild to moderate abuse of drugs or alcohol and others that try to instill empathy in bullies. With girls as young as 12 prostituting themselves for drugs, alcohol or that fleeting currency known as popularity, the agency offers programs that try to build up self-esteem and teach kids about healthy relationships. But the programs seeing the biggest spike in referrals are the ones with deal with sexting.

Sexting usually begins with a girl sending a naked photo of herself to her boyfriend. They split up and the boy shares that photo in texts or on social media sites with others. Conrad said a growing phenomenon is where another girl distributes the photo, secretly snapping an image while a classmate is changing before gym class, for example. Boys collect the images as if they were hockey cards, trading to complete what they call a “set.”

“It’s out of control,” said Conrad. One teenage girl changed schools several times, moving from the city to county only in vain to try to escape the stigma that followed her.

Kids who could benefit from multiple programs can take them all. For kids dealing with multiple issues as if often the case – problem behaviour with underlying severe addictions, mental health problems – Conrad’s agency will refer them to other agencies.

Conrad’s agency has been around for 34 years, but still suffers from anonymity. “Principals know about us. Police officers know about us. But we hope more people will learn about us.”

The agency has been working hard to raise its profile, Conrad said. As part of its community outreach efforts, staff put on 79 presentations in schools last year.

Criminal defence lawyer Rae-Anne Copat is on the volunteer board of directors at the Youth Diversion centre. (Jason Kryk/the windsor Star)

In November 2013, the agency opened the doors of its new location on Provincial Road, moving from less auspicious quarters on Drouillard Road.

The agency also secured charitable status, allowing it to supplement its funding from the Ministry of the Attorney General and Ministry of Children and Youth Services and its ever-diminishing grants from the Ontario Trillium Foundation.

With a total annual budget of about $260,000, Youth Diversion employs the equivalent of 3½ staff members.

Criminal defence lawyer Rae-Anne Copat is the newest member of the volunteer board of directors. “They handle the hot topics,” said Copat, “It gives kids a positive outlet to discuss those difficult topics.”

Many of the agency’s clients are not “bad kids,” but ones encountering “a bump in the road,” Copat said. “We need to create something positive for them, and create a dialogue. I think it’s working.”

The luncheon will be held Nov. 19 at Caesars Windsor. The event runs from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., with lunch at 1 p.m. and Moroney giving her talk at 2:15 p.m. Tickets are $65. There is a special rate for students. For tickets and information, call 519-253-3340 or visit http://www.ecyouthdiversion.ca

ssacheli@windsorstar.com or Twitter @WinStarSacheli

Five years after pitching a bag of guns and ammunition out the window of a moving car, Gurfathe “Laddi” Kooner began serving a penitentiary term Thursday.

But his stay behind bars may be brief.

Less than three hours after being sentenced in Windsor to three years in prison, Kooner had a lawyer in court in Toronto arguing that he should be released on bail pending appeal.

Kooner, 29, was convicted last year of 15 firearms offences related to a high-risk takedown on Mulberry Road in Forest Glade in November 2009. Police had received a tip that Kooner had guns, so they followed the Ford F-150 he was driving as he pulled away from his Manning Road home. Before the pickup truck stopped, Kooner was seen throwing a bag out the window. The bag was later discovered to contain a Smith & Wesson handgun, a Taurus handgun, a high-capacity magazine and a sock full of bullets.

In the middle of a quiet residential neighbourhood, police surrounded Kooner’s vehicle and arrested him at gunpoint.

Kooner hired a new lawyer after his conviction to try to reopen the case, arguing his first lawyer hadn’t done enough in questioning the police about the source of the tip. Kooner lost the argument. In August, he appealed his conviction, but his case has yet to be heard.

The Ontario Court of Appeal Thursday reserved its decision on whether Kooner will be released on bail until it hears his case. Apart from a short stay in police custody before being granted bail soon after his arrest, Kooner has avoided being jailed for his crimes.

During his protracted trial, Kooner fingered another man – Harpinder Sian – as the man who planted the guns in his vehicle. Sian is the subject of extradition proceedings and is wanted in the United States on drug charges.

Kooner, who runs a trucking company, was recently the target of a home invasion in which his sister was shot. There have been no arrests in the case.

Kooner’s therapist testified in court last week that the man suffers from acute stress disorder as a result of the traumatic event.

Kooner’s latest lawyer had argued that Kooner should be allowed to serve his sentence on house arrest. The Crown asked that Kooner be sentenced to at least five years in a federal penitentiary.

Superior Court Justice Joseph Quinn Thursday instead handed Kooner a three-year jail sentence, saying the guns and ammunition Kooner possessed “pose a serious threat to the safety of the community.”

Three years was once the mandatory minimum sentence for firearms offences until struck down as unconstitutional by the Ontario Court of Appeal.

While Kooner was not using the guns during the commission of a crime, “the possession of illegal handguns are generally for illegal activity,” Quinn said. “An appropriate sentence should have a deterrent effect on Gurfathe Kooner and others.”

ssacheli@windsorstar.com or Twitter@WinStarSacheli

The precedent-setting case of a Tecumseh-based trainer convicted of doping his racehorse is headed to highest court in the land.

Derek Riesberry, 44, is appealing his fraud conviction to the Supreme Court of Canada in a case that has been wending its way through the legal system for four years.

Riesberry was at first acquitted of fraud, attempted fraud and two counts related to cheating at play after a protracted trial in Superior Court in Windsor. The Crown took the case to the Ontario Court of Appeal which last month found the local judge who heard the case erred in his decision.

The appellate court ordered a new trial on the counts related to cheating at play, but on the fraud charges found him guilty.

Because the court of appeal substituted a conviction for the acquittal, Riesberry has the automatic right of appeal to the Supreme Court, his lawyer, Andrew Bradie, explained Friday.

Riesberry’s new trial on the cheating at play charges is being held in abeyance until the Supreme Court hears his fraud charges. Bradie suspects it could be two years before that happens.

Riesberry was caught on surveillance video injecting something into the neck of his horse on Sept 28, 2010. When he was arrested a few weeks later driving into Windsor Raceway, a syringe filled with performance-enhancing drugs was found in his truck.

One of the drugs found in the syringe – clenbuterol – is the same substance that got Toronto Maple Leafs forward Carter Ashton suspended for 20 games earlier this month.

Ashton claims he didn’t know the prohibited was in an inhaler he borrowed to counter an episode of exercise-induced asthma.

Riesberry’s case is precedent-setting in that it is the first time in Canada someone has been charged criminally for horse doping.

In the past, such breaches were dealt with as licence infractions at regulatory tribunals. But in a crackdown by the Ontario Racing Commission on cheating, Riesberry and another local trainer, Chris Haskell, 37, were charged under the Criminal Code.

Haskell’s case, which also dates to 2010, has been held in abeyance pending the outcome of Riesberry’s case.

The Ontario Racing Commission has suspended Riesberry’s licence. “He is not planning to return to the industry,” his lawyer said.

ssacheli@windsorstar.com or Twitter @WinStarSacheli

On a wintry Saturday afternoon in January 2009, the life of an Essex County woman irreparably changed.

She was 71 and driving a cab for a living — not how she envisioned her golden years. At 1:45 p.m. she picked up a fare who, unbeknownst to her, was a violent man with a long criminal history.

Convicted rapist Scott McLaughlin has been declared a dangerous offender on Nov. 17, 2014.

For his 75 past crimes including what Scott McLaughlin did to the cab driver that day, the 45-year-old man was sentenced Monday to an indefinite sentence behind bars. In a 34-page decision that took nearly two hours to read aloud, Superior Court Justice Renee Pomerance gave McLaughlin the rare designation of “dangerous offender.” He won’t ever get out of prison unless a parole board is satisfied he is reformed.

On the day the cab driver had the misfortune of crossing paths with McLaughlin, he had only recently been released from jail. He had spent most of his adult life behind bars. His criminal record was varied – armed robbery, drugs, threats, assaults, thefts, break and enters and breach of probation.

He was about to add kidnapping and sexual assault.

McLaughlin hopped into the front seat of the woman’s cab and made some small talk. He said he’d been to a stag party the night before and was still hung over. Soon, he had taken the woman’s cellphone, making calls and threatening to kill the people on the other end of the line.

McLaughlin at first told the woman to drive him to Maidstone where he was to be picked up by a friend. Next he told her to go to Windsor. Soon, he changed his mind again, saying he wanted to return to Essex.

“I’ll kill you if you don’t do what I tell you.”

He had taken the battery out of the woman’s cellphone and thrown it on the floor. He went through the woman’s wallet and told her he knew where she lived.

McLaughlin directed the woman onto back roads that led into Kent County. The roads weren’t plowed and driving was treacherous. When they came to an abandoned church in Fletcher, McLaughlin grabbed the wheel and steered into the empty parking lot.

He took the keys from the ignition and threw them out of reach. He then slapped the woman repeatedly.

McLaughlin forced the woman to perform oral sex, saying demeaning things about her age despite her acquiescing to his every demand. He forced her to undress and ripped open her genitals with his fingers before forcing her to perform oral sex again.

He told her to drive back into Essex County. In Leamington, she spotted a police cruiser drive by. After four hours of being held captive, she found the strength to stop the cab and escape.

While McLaughlin took the wheel and led police on a high-speed chase, she waited on the side of the road, snow whipping her face.

“The events of January 31, 2009 have cast a long shadow on (the woman’s) life,” Pomerance said. Emotional handicaps haunt her daily life. The now 77-year-old woman used to be active and social. She is now a fearful recluse.

A psychiatrist concluded McLaughlin is a psychopath with antisocial personality disorder. Dr. Derek Pallandi concluded McLaughlin poses a “very high risk” to re-offend.

The judge discounted much of the psychiatrist’s testimony, pointing out he used an outdated tool to assess McLaughlin.

But Pomerance said she didn’t need an expert to tell her what common sense makes patently clear.

“There is a present likelihood that Mr. McLaughlin will re-offend in the future and that, through his failure to restrain his behaviour, is likely to cause death or injury to another person, or inflict severe psychological damage upon another person.”

McLaughlin pleaded guilty to nine crimes arising from the January 2009 incident. The prosecutor at that time said he was considering a dangerous offender designation, but it took the Crown five months to make the formal order.

It then sought adjournment after adjournment in preparing its case.

Nine months later, the Crown had assembled 12,000 pages of documents, most of which was of “limited value.”

The judge criticized the Crown for going off on tangents and being “non-discriminating” in its presentation of evidence.

“I make these observations because the delay in this case is a matter of grave concern.”

Defence lawyer John Liddle speaks with media outside Superior Court after his client Scott McLaughlin was declared a dangerous offender, Monday, Nov. 17, 2014. (DAX MELMER/The Windsor Star)

Outside the courthouse, assistant Crown attorney Gary Nikota tried to explain his approach. “I was trying to be thorough.”

McLaughlin is among seven dangerous offender applications Nikota has handled in his three decades as a Crown prosecutor.

He called dangerous offender applications a “tragic necessity” and said the only satisfaction he derives from them is “in protecting the public.” As of 2012, there were 486 dangerous offenders in Canadian penitentiaries.

The Crown presented evidence about McLaughlin’s time at Windsor Jail. McLaughlin thought a guard was sleeping with his girlfriend and flew into a rage, threatening another guard.

McLaughlin blew the whistle on two guards, saying they knew he was dealing drugs. The two guards are no longer employed in corrections.

The judge placed little weight on the evidence in terms of it painting McLaughlin in a bad light.

“Mr. McLaughlin was one of many inmates who, with the tacit encouragement of guards, engaged in the sale and use of illicit substances,” Pomerance said.

He did misbehave behind bars, but “viewed in context, the evidence is more of an indictment of misbehaving correctional officers and a dysfunctional prison environment than it is of Mr. McLaughlin.”

Defence lawyer John Liddle said he tried to “humanize” McLaughlin. McLaughlin never had much opportunity to pursue counselling while behind bars. He once witnessed a prison murder and had to be placed in segregation and moved around for his own protection after becoming a Crown witness in the case. McLaughlin spent six years behind bars before being acquitted of a murder in Calgary, then was abruptly released without any help in transitioning to life outside prison.

Liddle said McLaughlin will now have the opportunity to try to reform himself, and perhaps one day get parole.

ssacheli@windsorstar.com or on Twitter @WinStarSacheli

A local man who once spent 15 months in a U.S. jail for smuggling illegal immigrants into Michigan is back behind bars on this side of the border for running a marijuana grow operation.

Frank William Magyar, 48, was sentenced Tuesday to nine months in jail, followed by a year of probation. Magyar had asked that he be allowed to serve his sentence on house arrest, but the judge said that wouldn’t be appropriate given his record for human smuggling.

Magyar ran a grow operation out of a warehouse on University Avenue West. In 2009, police found 317 marijuana plants growing under lights powered by electricity that bypassed the meter.

The warehouse was outfitted with more lights and production space suggesting the operation had been larger in the past or could be bigger in the future.

Magyar pleaded not guilty and went to trial arguing his Charter rights were violated. He lost and was convicted of production of marijuana, possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking and theft of more than $5,000 of electricity.

He must pay Enwin back for the electricity he stole.

Magyar stood out from other people convicted of crimes and awaiting sentencing in that he did not co-operate with the probation officer tasked with preparing a background report on him for the judge.

Magyar not only hit on the probation officer, asking to take her to dinner and offering to teach her Latin dancing, he showed no remorse for his crimes. He lied to her, painting a picture of a close relationships with family members, when really, even his own mother had nothing nice to say about him.

Superior Court Justice Thomas Carey Tuesday told Magyar he didn’t put too much weight on the report.

Carey seemed almost apologetic in sending Magyar to jail, wishing him luck and assuring him “I have tried not to over-emphasize the lack of remorse evident in the pre-sentence report.”

During Magyar’s trial, prosecutor Paul Bailey tried to show that the location of the warehouse next to a railway line could have sparked a disaster like that in Lac-Megantic, Que., last year.

Bailey asked Carey to sentence Magyar to two to four years in a federal penitentiary.

Magyar’s lawyer, Rae-Anne Copat, asked for a period of house arrest not exceeding 18 months.

ssacheli@windsorstar.com

Jodi Clapp is looking for a house to rent and instead uncovered a scam by fraudsters looking to swindle money out of prospective tenants like herself.

Clapp visited a local website called Rent4All.ca over the weekend and found a house on California Avenue she was interested in renting. She exchanged email and text messages with the supposed landlord over the ensuing days, but grew more suspicious with each reply.

At first, everything seemed legitimate. The landlord claimed to be off with his wife doing missionary work and they wanted their house occupied while away. He sent Clapp a family photo and dimensions of each room. Clapp filled out a tenant application, providing all sorts of personal information.

The landlord invited Clapp to drive by the house. When Clapp asked to see the inside, the landlord promised to courier her the keys once she wired him a $400 deposit.

“Red flags started going up,” Clapp said Wednesday.

When she messaged the landlord saying she wasn’t comfortable with that arrangement, he got aggressive, telling her they had a deal.

“That’s when I knew it was a scam,” Clapp said.

“It was a red flag for me, but not for anybody,” she said, fearing others might have wired money to the fraudsters.

Clapp did a search on the phone number from which she and her husband had been receiving texts. It came back to a number in Florida. When she tried to call it, it was already out of service.

Clapp’s husband began researching the California Avenue house and discovered the photos and information had been lifted from a listing on MLS, a service used by real estate agents. Clapp called the listing agent for the house, Dan Bechard, who, in turn, called police.

“That house is for sale, not for rent,” said Bechard, angry that his name was used in the bogus for-rent post. His name was used in at least one other post as well.

Clapp said she shares Bechard’s anger. “There has to be something in place for them to review it to make sure the ads are legitimate.”

Bechard, a sales rep at RE/MAX Preferred Realty, blamed the website’s owner, another city realtor, for not screening posts more carefully.

But Paul Rouillard, the realtor who runs the site, said he is a victim, too.

Rouillard said the bogus ads started showing up on his website two to three months ago and he has been trying to weed them out.

He said the website is a free service and he does his best to take down fraudulent posts as soon as they are detected.

Three bogus ads that had been on the site were taken down soon after The Star called Rouillard Wednesday. Clapp made paper copies of them to give to police.

Rouillard said he has had RCMP officers contact him in recent weeks about fraudulent ads. The problem with catching the culprits is they are located offshore and use encrypted IP addresses to post their ads online.

Authorities believe the scams originate in Nigeria, he said.

“It’s not just me,” Rouillard said. “They are targeting every free website.”

Rouillard urges users of his site, Kijiji or any other free site to not make deals through email or texts. Never deal with a landlord you suspect is outside Ontario. He said the prospective tenant and landlord should speak on the phone and set up a meeting.

He said reputable landlords have local agents to represent them. You should at least be able to meet that person, Rouillard said.

Rouillard said he offers the website as an additional service to clients and has opened it up to everyone. “I don’t want to have to shut down the service. They get it for free.”

Windsor police said they could offer no comment Wednesday.

ssacheli@windsorstar.com

An accused pedophile who looks like a child himself fought back tears in court Thursday as a justice of peace denied his bail application.

James Andrew Piche, 29, was remanded back into custody and told he’d appear again by video in two weeks. He has been in jail since Sept. 24 and faces now 68 charges, including sexual assault, sexual interference, possessing child pornography and accessing child pornography. He had been charged with 71 counts, but the Crown withdrew three counts discovered to be duplicates.

“We’ll consider an appeal,” defence lawyer Elizabeth Craig said after hearing the ruling by justice of the peace Elizabeth Neilson. Craig said “it’s very uncommon” that someone with no prior record who is from Windsor would be denied bail.

Piche was one of 60 men arrested as part of a provincewide child pornography sting. Once police began poring over the contents of his computer, they charged him with additional counts of sexual assault and sexual interference related to three boys now aged 11 to 16.

The assaults are alleged to have occurred between 2006 and 2014.

Craig said the police investigation into her client continues.

Piche, dressed in dark slacks and a light-coloured checked shirt under a red zippered hoodie, fought back tears as he heard the justice of the peace’s decision. He looked at his mother and pastor seated in the body of the court.

Piche’s home was one of 99 in the province raided by police.

ssacheli@windsorstar.com

A young man police accused of fatally stabbing a University of Windsor student during a melee downtown last year had the murder charge against him dropped Thursday.

Dwayne Nicholas Pierce, 23, had been charged with first-degree murder in the Oct. 19, 2013 death of Gautham (Kevin) Kugathasan. In what had been previously scheduled as a routine court appearance in the case, the Crown Thursday withdrew the murder charge, saying there was no reasonable prospect of a conviction.

The bloody brawl began in Mynt, a now-renamed downtown nightclub at the corner of University Avenue West and Pelissier Street. After closing time at 2 a.m., the melee spilled into the street. Captured on traffic cameras, it involved at least 10 people and spanned a city block.

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In an interview after appearing in court on her client’s behalf Thursday, defence lawyer Maria Carroccia said Pierce maintained his innocence. “He co-operated with the police and voluntarily provided his DNA.”

Carroccia said there were four knives and extensive blood samples sent away for forensic testing. Carroccia said that testing likely cleared Pierce.

After six weeks in police custody, Pierce was granted bail last December. Carroccia said that bail is rarely granted in murder cases.“It was clear there were some issues with proof,” she said.

Carroccia said Pierce continued to work and support his family while he waited to be cleared by forensics. “It’s been stressful for him having this hanging over his head for more than a year… He is relieved.”

Kugathasan, 19, was a second-year criminology student at the University of Windsor who hailed from Scarborough, Ont. He hoped to become a probation officer, or study law and become a criminal lawyer.

Two other men are still before the courts, charged in relation to the melee. But neither are charged with harming Kugathasan.

Abdul Al-Bousaleh, 24, is charged with the aggravated assault of another man and possession of a weapon dangerous to the public peace. He is free on bail and travelled to the Middle East, but has been delayed by passport issues in getting back to Canada. He is said to be intending to return and enter a guilty plea in relation to his charges.

Another man, Ali Mahmoud Ahmed, 31, is charged with possession of a dangerous weapon. He is scheduled to go to trial in the new year.

ssacheli@windsorstar.com

A Windsor immigration lawyer testified Monday that she was charged criminally and stripped of her licence without ever having a chance to defend herself.

Sandra Saccucci Zaher is on trial charged with fabricating evidence. In addition to that criminal charge, she is also facing two counts under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act with misrepresenting facts in a refugee claim and helping someone to make a false claim for refugee status.

Zaher, who ran an immigration practice until 2012, is charged along with a worker in her office, Diana Al-Masalkhi.

Superior Court heard Monday that local immigration counsellor Gabriel Maggio went to the RCMP to report that Zaher had counselled a client to lie in refugee proceedings. The identity of the client and country of origin is the subject of an interim publication ban Justice Renee Pomerance will rule on Tuesday.

Because of Maggio’s tip and information from his client, the RCMP tapped Zaher’s phones. Defence lawyer Patrick Ducharme is challenging the constitutionality of the wire taps.

“I know Maggio is loaded with ill-will for Ms. Zaher,” Ducharme said. Maggio competed with Zaher for business. Court heard Maggio would malign Zaher and Zaher had contemplated suing him in the past.

Ducharme said he wants to question both the client and Maggio about what they told police.

Federal prosecutor Richard Pollock wants a publication ban on the identity of the client, saying his safety and that of his family could be in jeopardy if his government found out he had applied for refugee status in Canada.

Ducharme called the client a liar. “The whole claim is bogus,” Ducharme said, arguing against any publication ban in the case. He suspects the client is trying to leverage his “co-operation” with the RCMP to get permanent residency in Canada. “And this Maggio guy propped him up.”

Court heard the client had originally entered Canada in 2009 on a student visa. He received scholarship money to do a Master’s degree at the University of Windsor. He eventually gained refugee status.

Zaher, in her testimony, told the court the man had been deemed a “security risk” by the RCMP and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

Zaher said she was arrested on March 29, 2012 and her licence to practice law was suspended shortly thereafter. She said she wished the RCMP had come to her with the allegations before her arrest. “I would have been able to defend myself.”

The trial is scheduled for four weeks.

ssacheli@windsorstar.com