Calgary judge hands down 4-year sentence to 'reprehensible' fraudster who fled to U.S.

A Calgary fraudster arrested in Montana nine months after he fled Canada to avoid being sent to prison is heading to prison. 

Ronald James Aitkens, 70, was handed a four-year sentence by Justice Lloyd Robertson on Thursday for the offender's "deliberate and prolonged breach of trust."

"The actions of the accused were reprehensible," wrote Robertson. 

Aitkens appeared in a Calgary courtroom in a blue, jail-issued jumpsuit and shackles, one week after he was arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Aitkens pulled over for speeding

Lawyer Brendan Miller told the court that Aitkens was headed back to Canada to turn himself in when he happened to be pulled over for speeding in Montana. 

Authorities realized he was wanted on warrants and contacted police in Canada to make arrangements to return the fugitive. 

Aitkens disappeared on Nov. 6, the day he was to be sentenced for two fraud-related offences under the Alberta Securities Act.

Border authorities told prosecutor Yasifina Somji that Aitkens crossed into the United States that same day. 

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Robertson had the option of sentencing Aitkens in absentia last fall so that the offender could begin serving right away if he was arrested on his warrants. But the judge wanted the fraudster to appear before him, in person, in court.

The judge's feelings didn't change Thursday morning when Aitkens — having just been hand-delivered by sheriffs to Alberta — appeared via closed-circuit TV from the Calgary Remand Centre. 

"I won't do [sentencing] in the absence of Mr. Aitkens," said Robertson, delaying his final act to the afternoon so Aitkens could appear in person.

'Motivated by greed'

Prosecutors Somji and Will Tran asked Robertson to impose the maximum five-year prison term. The defence lawyer argued Aitkens should get a two-year conditional sentence, meaning the fraudster would have been allowed to serve his sentence at home. 

In his 16-page sentencing decision, Robertson wrote that Aitkens's "actions were motivated by greed."

From 2005 to 2008, Aitkens distributed and sold securities in a real estate investment company called Legacy Communities. 

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The project involved 500 acres (202 hectares) of real estate on Calgary's western boundary. 

Aitkens raised more than $35 million from about 1,400 investors, some of whom used their retirement savings, Robertson found in his conviction decision.

$10 million diverted

Investors were told that land would be purchased and developed for the project.

But Aitkens diverted more than $10 million of investors' money to private companies he owned.

Robertson found the Legacy project "failed for multiple reasons," most significantly that planning approval to develop the project was not granted.

"It is true that the accused's illegal reallocation of Legacy finds did not help the situation; however, it does not entirely link the failure of Legacy exclusively to the accused's conduct … there was a genuine attempt to develop the Legacy lands."

'Secretly and deliberately'

But Robertson also found Aitkens deceived investors through a "misleading and untrue" offering memoranda process.

"Aitkens is responsible for illegally removing millions of dollars from a highly specific investment opportunity for his own purposes," said Robertson. 

"He did this secretly and deliberately."

In a victim impact statement, one of the investors wrote that he lost money he had saved for his children to go to university. 

The man wrote that he considered suicide at his lowest point. 

"The Alberta Securities Commission is pleased that Mr. Aitkens was held accountable for the harm he caused to investors and that today's sentence reflects the gravity of these offences," said Somji after Robertson's decision.