B.C. 'con man' sent to jail in N.L. for fraud
James Timothy Drummond has prior conviction for defrauding West Vancouver Boy Scouts
A man who was once described by a British Columbia Supreme Court judge as a "con man" was led away from Supreme Court in St. John's on Friday in handcuffs.
James Timothy Drummond, 68, was sentenced to three months in prison and 12 months of supervised probation, for one count of fraud over $5,000.
He pleaded guilty in February to defrauding Burke Realty, a local property management company, of $7,856 in 2013.
Crown prosecutor Dana Sullivan told the court Drummond wrote two bad cheques at the time for more than he owed the company.
The first cheque was for $16,780, from a bank account that was empty and frozen, and the second was for £5,500 in British currency from a closed account.
Sullivan said Drummond "signed a lease for a house he couldn't afford," and then tried to stay there for free for a period of time. Drummond and his family were evicted later that year.
Both the Crown and the defence acknowledged that Drummond has paid back the total amount owing to the sheriff's office.
Previous conviction
Sullivan said Drummond has no previous criminal record in Newfoundland and Labrador. But she told CBC News just before court on Friday that she was made aware of Drummond's previous conviction in B.C. thanks to CBC Investigates' coverage.
Drummond was convicted in 2001 of fraud over $5,000. He admitted to misappropriating almost $45,000 from the West Vancouver Cubs and Scouts' Christmas tree drive in the 1990s.
The Crown told the court on Friday that because he had received a one-year conditional sentence in that case, that he would now get jail time.
Sullivan had wanted a sentence of five months in prison, plus two years' probation.
'Short-term solution'
Defence lawyer Tammy Drover said Drummond is remorseful, and that this wasn't a sophisticated scheme — just "simple actions to get you out of a bind."
She said there's no excuse for his behaviour, but his family couldn't pay the rent, and he signed the cheques to allow for some time — a desperate move to keep the family in the home.
Drover stated that the previous conviction in B.C. is fairly dated by now, since the offence was committed in 1996.
Drover said the judge should also consider Drummond's health issues. She said he's an older man who is in ill health.
The defence wanted a maximum of 90 days in prison, to be served intermittently, to monitor Drummond's health and medical appointments.
Drummond also spoke during the hearing. He said he is "extremely remorseful," that his health is an issue, and that he has a three-year-old child on his mind.
Health concerns
Friday's sentencing hearing began with two witnesses who are physicians.
Dr. Jinka Sathya, a cancer specialist in St. John's who has been practicing oncology since 1987, testified that he first saw Drummond in May 2014, and diagnosed his patient with stage four prostate cancer.
Drummond underwent several hormone and radiation treatments.
Sathya said Drummond responded well to the treatments, and has been in remission since last summer.
Dr. Charles Bruce Doulton is a family and palliative care doctor. In his role of palliative care, he helps those with long-term illnesses with symptom management and pain control.
He said he started seeing Drummond as a patient last year, and has him on a long list of prescriptions, including anti-depressants and medications for anxiety, pain, and nausea.
But he said he thinks Drummond now has another condition, that has yet to be officially diagnosed, that is causing him pain in his joints, as well as fatigue. He said Drummond has a specialist appointment in the near future.
Both doctors said while Drummond is currently in remission, he's not cured of cancer, and it could come back years down the line.
Health matters in court
This is not the first time that Drummond's health issues have surfaced in court matters.
According to a British Columbia Supreme Court decision in 2008, Drummond had told several people in the 1980s and 1990s that he had leukemia, including his then-wife and in-laws.
British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Paul Williamson wrote in the decision that "in fact, he did not have leukemia."
Williamson called Drummond a "con man" and a "compulsive liar" for those claims, and many others.
In the Boy Scouts court case, Drummond claimed medical issues several times to delay the proceedings.
According to a 2001 article in the North Shore News, Drummond's scheduled preliminary hearing in the case had been cancelled the previous year because of a medical issue. He had a letter from his doctor, stating that he had a "respiratory illness."
Just before sentencing proceedings were about to begin in October 2001, Drummond's lawyer told the judge that his client suffered from an "ongoing health condition" and was "seeking medical attention."
A second sentencing hearing a few days later was also cancelled.
He was finally sentenced the following month.
With files from Rob Antle