Jail or house arrest for Gambling Addict, Wes McConnell?

Will it be house arrest or jail for Wes McConnell?
Lawyers made arguments for sentencing
By Jane Sims The London Free Press

Wes McConnell's penalty for fleecing Southwestern Ontario high school sports programs of almost $800,000 will be jail time - the only question is, where he will serve it.

A London court will decide next month whether the disgraced former head of the Thames Valley Regional Athletic Association (TVRAA) will do his sentence for fraud at home under house arrest or behind bars.

Tuesday, the defence and Crown made sentencing pitches to Ontario Court Justice Eleanor Schnall, ranging from house arrest to prison time.

McConnell, 56, pleaded guilty in October to one count of fraud valued at more than $5,000 for a decade-long skimming of money from bank accounts he controlled when he was the TVRAA's learning co-ordinator.

It's been revealed in court McConnell spent the money on an elaborate backyard pool and landscaping at his Westmount home in London and on a compulsive gambling addiction - spending up to $400 a day on lottery tickets - in hopes of a big win.

While McConnell was dipping into taxpayers' money for his benefit, high school athletic programs for students, coaches, teachers and parents were either cut or trimmed to make up budget shortfalls.

His defence lawyer, Robert Sheppard, told Schnall that McConnell now has a handle on his addiction and plans to put his house up for sale - the property where he spent about $110,000 on a backyard pool and landscaping - and use $186,300 from the sale as an installment on the $777, 593.63 in restitution he's expected to pay.

"He will make restitution, however possible," Sheppard said.

No payback has been made so far.

The TVRAA oversees high school sports for the Thames Valley District school board and the London District Catholic school board.

McConnell gets $2,700 a month from a school pension locked in when he turned 50.

Sheppard argued McConnell, with his excellent teaching record and skills, could serve his sentence in the community and continue to pay off the debt.

A three-year probation term on two years of house arrest would have him under community supervision for five years.

If a conditional sentence isn't considered enough, Sheppard suggested a prison sentence of two to two-and-a-half years for the father of five.

McConnell's bladder cancer diagnosis during the fraud period and his gambling addiction "don't come remotely close to absolving him," Sheppard said, but need to be balanced with the punitive principles of sentencing.

"He has brought upon his family great shame, great embarrassment, great anxiety," Sheppard said. "That's a responsibility he can't duck."

McConnell has also "brought about the end of his profession as an educator."

Sheppard called his client's scheme unsophisticated. But assistant Crown attorney Brian White disagreed. It was "a well-planned, extraordinary fraud over a long period of time," he said.

White suggested a prison term of four years. He pointed to reports and letters from McConnell and committees he sat on that outlined the cuts made and budget increases needed for athletics while McConnell was taking money from TVRAA accounts.

About $460,000 was taken in cash withdrawals of between $1,000 and $1,200.

The landscaping was paid with bank drafts. Some of the money was taken during the summer months when school was out.

One debit-card transaction was at the Blue Mountain ski resort. McConnell said through his lawyer Tuesday the money was spent while attending a provincial high school championship and would have been legitimate if he'd invoiced the charges.

McConnell also opened a second bank account set up to pay referees and more money went missing.

Just a month after his four-year contract to run TVRAA was renewed, McConnell put a 40% down payment of $24,000 on part of the landscaping.

White said McConnell's actions were like "a celebration of continued fraud" once he knew the contract was renewed.

The money belongs to taxpayers, White said, distinguishing the case from other private frauds.

McConnell told the author of his pre-sentence report, when discussing the lottery tickets, "I wanted more, I wanted bigger and better."

White questioned the extent of the gambling problem only reported by McConnell and asked Schnall to put little weight on it in sentencing. He said McConnell's comment applied to the fraud itself, with a wish to live beyond his means, and that he took the money "to facilitate a bigger and better life."

"The Crown submits the motivation was greed, nothing more, nothing less," White said.

He urged Schnall to send "a serious message to the community" about "an egregious breach of trust."

McConnell will be sentenced March 16.