A Toronto man who dealt drugs out of a west Windsor apartment was sentenced Wednesday to a year in jail.

Malcolm E. Marfo, 22, pleaded guilty to possession of nearly one ounce of crack cocaine for the purpose of trafficking. He spent two months in jail before his family could scrape together $500 in bail money, court heard. With enhanced credit for time already served, Marfo’s sentence will be an additional nine months.

Marfo, known on the street as Izzy, was one of three men who were the subject of a tip to drug officers last year.

Police started watching an apartment at 1950 College Ave. and witnessed for themselves activity consistent with drug trafficking.

Security video from the building showed similar activity.

On Nov. 6, police raided the apartment, finding Marfo and four other men inside. In plain view on the kitchen table were 23 grams of crack cocaine and a couple grams of marijuana. Police found a further 3.5 grams of crack cocaine in the pocket of a pair of sweatpants hanging in the bathroom.

Police also found a digital scale, packaging materials and five cellphones.

The apartment was leased to Wendall Edward Gregwah, 49, one of the five men arrested inside.

On Wednesday, Marfo took the rap for all the drugs and the cash totalling $403 found in various locations in the living room.

Drug charges against Gregwah, Mohamed Abdinasir Farah, 24, Awalla Jama, 26, and Abdikadir Mohamed Yusuf, 29, were withdrawn.

“The facts are obvious. The group was selling drugs,” said Hanieh Azimi, Marfo’s lawyer.

Marfo reacted despondently when asked by Ontario court Justice Lloyd Dean if he had anything to say in reaction to the sentence the judge was considering.

“If that’s what you’re gonna give me, I’ll take it,” Marfo said.

Azimi had asked for a nine-month sentence, less time served.

Federal drug prosecutor Helen Burgess asked for a sentence of two years less a day in jail.

Once Marfo gets out of jail, he will be on probation for two years. He also has to pay a fine of $200 the government uses to help victims of crime. He is prohibited from possessing firearms for 10 years and he must provide a blood sample for the national DNA databank police use to solve crime.

ssacheli@windsorstar.com

The jailhouse request was clandestine, but specific: hot sauce, coffee and a big bag of weed.

Guards at Windsor Jail intercepted a note about incoming drugs. May 28, 2013. The handwritten note was tucked into a jug that usually contains hot tea. “What up, Brother,” the note began, written by an inmate identified only as “T.”

“I got something coming down to you from the hoes,” T wrote. “Can you make sure to send it back to me in our diet trays ASAP, then I’ll send it back to you.”

T signs off with a polite, “and also hot sauce and coffee please and thanks.”

Figuring the “hoes” referred to in the note were the female inmates, jail staff scoured the ward where women are housed. In a tea jug there, they found a package containing nearly an ounce of marijuana. A review of security video, showed inmate Kamilla Lenart, serving a sentence for drug offences, reaching through bars and dropping the package into the jug.

Lenart, 34, pleaded guilty Thursday to trafficking in marijuana. Ontario court Justice Lloyd Dean sentenced her to a further three months in jail on top of the time she has already spent in custody until Thursday’s court appearance.

The last time Lenart appeared in court, “her face was black and blue,” said defence lawyer Laura Joy. “She’s been beaten in jail,” Joy said.

Lenart was also the victim of the 87-year-old building itself. Recently bathroom tiles collapsed, cutting Lenart’s leg and leaving her with a scar, Joy said.

Despite Lenart committing a crime while behind bars, Dean gave her enhanced credit for the time she has spent at Windsor Jail. He said he did so reluctantly.

Lenart has two prior convictions for possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking. She also has a slew of convictions for breaching court orders.

“Her record is fueled because of drug addiction,” Joy said. Lenart is now clean, “looks good” and has lined up a waitressing job for when she is released from jail.

Being in jail has “given her time to reflect,” Joy said.

Addressing the court, Lenart said she is “paying a lot” for her transgressions. She will miss one daughter’s graduation and another’s First Communion.

It appears neither “T” nor the man with whom he was communicating was ever prosecuted, said federal drug prosecutor Helen Burgess.

It’s unknown how many times drugs have been intercepted at Windsor Jail. Court proceedings on other matters have heard that the jail is rife with drugs and that guards often turn a blind eye to marijuana because it has a calming effect on inmates.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services  said he could provide no information Thursday.

ssacheli@windsorstar.com
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A Toronto-area drug dealer, who tried to argue his rights were violated when police found cocaine, crack and a digital scale in his pockets, was convicted in Superior Court Friday.

Adrian Omar Richards, 27, was the subject of a police tip about a Toronto man dealing drugs in Windsor. The tipster provided police with the address of the Elsmere Avenue home where Richards was staying and offered a description of his vehicle.

Police started staking out the home at 2264 Elsmere Ave. When Richards left in his vehicle on Feb. 9, 2012, they followed. At the intersection of Totten Street and Partington Avenue, they arrested him at gunpoint.

In his jacket breast pocket, he had two baggies, one with more than 18 grams of crack cocaine and one with more than 18 grams of powdered cocaine. In his front pants pocket, he had a digital scale with cocaine residue on it.

Police estimated the street value of the drugs at $3,600.

Superior Court Justice Scott Campbell had earlier ruled against Richards in a constitutional challenge to the police search. Campbell ruled Richards’ rights were not violated.

The trial proceeded with the defence calling no evidence.

The judge ordered that a report on Richards’ background be prepared by a probation officer prior to sentencing. Richards will be sentenced at a later date.

ssacheli@windsorstar.com

Michael Crawford has spent his entire adult life in and out of jail.

Monday, he headed back behind bars for a break-in at Long & McQuade music store.

On October 15, someone pried open the back door of the Walker Road store. First, the burglar tried to pry off the siding at a closed-off doorway before moving to another entry point. Police found blood on a piece of damaged siding. DNA analysis led police to Crawford.

Crawford, 42, was charged with break and enter and theft. Monday he pleaded guilty to the lesser, included offence of possession of stolen property.

Crawford admitted to using a storage locker on Dougall Avenue to hide electric guitars stolen in the break-in. When police found them, they still had Long & McQuade tags on them.

The break-in was reported to police as it was taking place. A homeowner heard a bang behind the store. He went to investigate, spotting a tan coloured Jeep Patriot backed up to the back door. A man was loading in guitars and other equipment.

Rawlins sentenced Crawford to 15 days in jail on top of the 18 days he spent behind bars before being freed on bail. She gave him enhanced credit of 27 days for the 18-day jail stint.

Crawford has a long criminal record for thefts and break-ins. Ontario court Justice Micheline Rawlins sarcastically praised the man for his consistency.

But the interaction between Crawford and Rawlins became more somber when Crawford tried to blame his life of crime on his mental illness.

“I know lots of people with mental health issues – family members “They don’t break into places,” Rawlins said.

“Just because you have mental health issues does not make you a thief,” the judge continued. “That’s a lifestyle choice.”

Assistant Crown attorney Craig Houle asked the judge to order Crawford to repay Long & McQuade $300 for the damage to the back of the store.

Rawlins declined, saying Crawford had admitted to having in his possession the guitars stolen in the break-in, but not the break-in itself.

She did however impose a $100 fine that goes into a fund to help victims of crime.

ssacheli@windsorstar.com

A preliminary hearing has begun in the case of a former Tecumseh priest charged with embezzling money from St. Anne’s Church.

Robert Couture, 50, is charged with theft over $5,000. Police allege the pastor stole $180,000 between August 2002 and May 2010.

During that time, Couture twice reported a burglary at his residence. In both cases, Couture claimed cash was stolen while he was conducting mass. He posed in his collar and vestments for a photo that ran on the front page of the Windsor Star in October 2009 about how burglars had targeted him again.

Monday was the first day of preliminary hearing scheduled to last 10 days in Ontario court. A publication ban prevents reporting on the evidence heard at the preliminary hearing. Couture has elected to be tried by a Superior Court judge sitting without a jury if the preliminary hearing judge commits him to stand trial.

The London Diocese which encompasses local churches like St. Anne’s has said parishioners deserve to know what happened to their money. Several parishioners sat in on the proceedings against Couture Monday.

ssacheli@windsorstar.com

A Belle River man convicted of killing a dog by taping its muzzle shut served only four hours of a four-month jail sentence Wednesday before being freed on bail pending appeal.

John Mackenzie,56, is appealing his conviction for killing a dog and causing unnecessary pain and suffering to an animal. In April 2012, he volunteered to look after a 40-kg German shepherd for a friend who was in jail. Mackenzie kept the dog tied to a tree in the front yard of his home on County Road 22.

The dog was on a short lead attached to a choke collar.

The dog was barking and bit him, so Mackenzie wrapped electrical tape around the dog’s muzzle. When he checked on the animal hours two hours later, the dog was dead.

Ontario court Justice Gregory Campbell called Mackenzie’s handling of the dog “wanton and callous.” He sentenced Mackenzie to four months in jail followed by two years’ probation. He prohibited Mackenzie from owning or living in a home with a pet for 10 years.

Mackenzie’s lawyer, Frank Miller, had appeal paperwork ready before Campbell even passed sentence. Mackenzie appeared in Superior Court later the same day when, on the consent of the Crown, Justice Joseph Quinn granted him bail pending the outcome of his appeal.

Mackenzie was released on $2,000 bail. He did not have to deposit any money with the court, but may be forced to pay it if he fails to attend on future dates.

Quinn also prohibited Mackenzie from living in a home with a pet.

When the same prohibition was imposed earlier in the day, defence lawyer Frank Miller said it may lead to the euthanizing of Mackenzie’s female Weimaraner, who recently had a litter of puppies.

At the sentencing hearing, Miller called Mackenzie a “responsible” pet owner.

But the sentencing judge said taping the dog’s muzzle shut was “cruel.” Leaving the dog in that condition while tethered to a tree with a choke collar was “reckless and criminal.”

“It was carried out with indifference to the foreseeable consequences.”

Mackenzie has a long criminal record with 29 convictions spanning 40 years. When he killed the dog, Mackenzie was on probation for assault.

He has not criminal record for animal abuse.

“Mr. Mackenzie is not a person who runs around hurting dogs,” Miller said.

“Mr. Mackenzie left a dog on a choke chain and the dog strangled itself… It’s not like microwaving a cat.”

In his submissions to the judge, Miller said, “there is a difference between the recklessness Your Honour found an egregious act of cruelty.”

Campbell imposed the same jail term handed to a Windsor man who tied a condom to his dog’s penis. In that 2010 case, Anjalo Abeywickrema was trying to prevent the Labrador retriever mix from urinating and ejaculating in his apartment.

The dog ran away with the contraption attached. Abeywikrema chased after the dog, but suffered a heart attack and had to be hospitalized.

The dog was found a day later, its penis bleeding and blackened. It was euthanized.

Assistant Crown attorney Scott Pratt said there were mitigating factors not present in Mackenzie’s case. Abeywickrema showed remorse by pleading guilty.

Pratt asked for a jail sentence of six months and three years’ probation.

“Mr. Mackenzie created the situation that killed the dog,” Pratt said.

But Mackenzie, addressing the court, insisted he had not meant to kill the dog.

“I’m sorry what happened to the dog,” he said. “It was an accident…I feel bad.”

Melanie Coulter, executive director of the Windsor-Essex County Humane Society, said, despite Mackenzie’s release, she is satisfied the courts were taking the case seriously.

“We’re pleased that the justice system has said animal cruelty is an offence that should be punishable by a jail sentence.”

She said Mackenzie should never be allowed to own or live with animals again. “A prohibition is a key component we’d like to see,” she said. “We think it should be for a lifetime.”

ssacheli@windsorstar.com

A Leamington woman who spent a summer night having an orgy with a group of teenaged boys, then exaggerated her mental illness to avoid prosecution, was sentenced Friday to another four months in jail.

Yamila Castillo Calzado, 34, has already spent nearly 10 months in custody, part of the time “malingering” in hospital to avoid jail, according to her medical reports.

Friday, she pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual interference for an incident that occurred in July 2012. At the same court hearing, she was also convicted of trying to stab her ex-husband in an incident a year later.

On the night of July 13 to 14, 2012, Calzado was drinking with five teenaged boys at a home in Leamington. She was flirting with them all, flashing her breasts and telling them that in her native country of Cuba, it’s common for women to have sex with boys.

The boys to whom the charges relate were aged 14 and 15. The other two were older than 16, which is the age of consent.

Calzado performed oral sex on all three boys and had intercourse with one of the 14 year olds. The acts took place while the others watched.

Calzado was arrested after the mother of one of the boys called police.

Calzado was free on bail for a year until she attacked her ex-husband. Calzado went into the Windsor man’s apartment uninvited in July 2013. When her ex-husband asked Calzado to leave, she tried to stab him with a knife. In the ensuing struggle, the man tripped and fell to the ground. Calzado climbed on top of him, wrapping her hands around his throat.

The incident was witnessed by the couple’s 10-year-old daughter. The girl’s screams summoned a neighbour who had to restrain Calzado with the help of a friend who had accompanied Calzado to the apartment.

Friday Calzado pleaded guilty to assault with a weapon and being unlawfully in a dwelling house. With time served, she was sentenced to a further day in jail to be served at the same time as the sentence on the sexual abuse charges.

Calzado appeared in court Friday, speaking to the judge through a Spanish interpreter. She asked about the prospect of being deported, something Ontario court Justice Micheline Rawlins said she could not address.

At earlier court appearances, Calzado was brought into the courtroom clutching a rolled up towel as if it were an infant. Given medical reports which referred to Calzado faking symptoms of mental illness, the court interpreted Calzado’s towel baby as a ploy for sympathy.

Despite those displays, Calzado has indeed suffered from mental illness since her teens, said defence lawyer Travis Hughes. She loves her daughter and pleaded guilty to avoid making the little girl testify in court, Hughes said.

Calzado was convicted in 2005 of stabbing the little girl’s father.

Once out of jail, Calzado will be on probation for three years. She is to take counselling and she is not to consume alcohol or associate with her ex-husband or any of the Leamington boys.

She is prohibited from having weapons for 10 years and will be on the national sex offender registry for the rest of her life. She must also submit a blood sample for the national DNA databank used by police to solve crime.

ssacheli@windsorstar.com

A Windsor man who impersonated a doctor, examining patients and taking their money, pleaded guilty Monday to a raft of assault and fraud-related charges.

Darko Jovanovich, 32, held himself out as a doctor with privileges at Detroit’s Henry Ford Hospital. He gave people with minor ailments grim diagnoses and gave children with disabilities promises of miracle cures.

Jovanovich pleaded guilty to seven crimes — four counts of fraud, two counts of assault and one count of possession of stolen property. After Jovanovich was arrested in February for defrauding a local furniture store, victims came out of the woodwork and police laid charges related to nine other complaints.

As part of a negotiation which saw Jovanovich plead guilty Monday, the bulk of the 22 charges were dropped.

Among the crimes even his lawyer could only characterize as dastardly, Jovanovich tried to bilk the family of a girl with disabilities out of $58,000. Court heard how Jovanovich examined the nine-year-old girl, telling her parents she had a lesion on her brain. During a followup meeting at the family’s home, Jovanovich showed the parents bogus documents to convince them he had scheduled an MRI for the girl in Detroit in advance of laser surgery in Chicago.

Jovanovich claimed to have paid for the girl’s surgery himself and had the parents sign a contract to repay him over five years.

Jovanovich told the personal trainer at his health club that the woman had a pre-stroke condition and that he was going to schedule her for an MRI. When the woman told him she was planning to take her daughter on a Disney trip, Jovanovich reportedly told her she could die on the plane. The woman took the trip anyway, but worried about her condition the entire time.

Jovanovich bilked one man out of $835, saying he had filled out the necessary paperwork to get the man a prescription for medical marijuana. Another man gave the fraudster $6,500 after Jovanovich claimed his father had died and he needed to borrow money for the funeral.

Jovanovich convinced another man with a minor soft-tissue injury that he had the early stages of leukemia. When Jovanovich saw the man in court Monday, Jovanovich sat sideways in the prisoner’s box to avoid eye contact.

Defence lawyer Frank Retar asked the court to order a background report “to find out who Mr. Jovanovich indeed is.” Outside the courtroom, Retar called Jovanovich “a mystery.”

Retar said Jovanovich has a mother who lives in London and that the woman said her son has a history degree from the University of Western Ontario. Retar said he has no idea if that is true. From victim statements, Jovanovich appears to be fluent in at least three languages – English, Arabic and Serbian – and used his linguistic skills to gain his victims’ trust.

Jovanovich has remained in jail since his arrest Feb. 19. Ontario court Justice Lloyd Dean promised Jovanovich Monday that the man will get enhanced credit for the time he spends in jail awaiting sentencing at the end of June.

ssacheli@windsorstar.com

A former Tecumseh priest accused of stealing $180,000 from his parish has been committed to stand trial for theft.

Robert Couture, 50, pastor of St. Anne’s Church until 2010, is charged with theft over $5,000.

His preliminary hearing, which began last week and was scheduled to last 10 days into this week and a day later this month, ended early.

A publication ban prevents reporting on the evidence heard.

Couture has elected to be tried by a Superior Court judge sitting without a jury. No trial date has yet been set.

Couture remains free on bail.

ssacheli@windsorstar.com

A student sexually abused by former high school teacher Mark Baggio has settled her lawsuit against him out of court.

It’s unknown how much the woman, now in her late 20s, settled for. Other parties named in the $6.3-million claim, including the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board and three former principals, settled out of court long ago. The settlement was subject to a confidentiality agreement.

The case against Baggio had been scheduled to go to trial this week.

Baggio, who was a guidance counsellor, religion teacher and coach at F.J. Brennan high school, was convicted in 2008 of sexual assault, sexual exploitation and luring a child for the intimate relationships he had with two female students. The judge, who sentenced Baggio to a four-year penitentiary term, found Baggio began grooming the girls for sex while they were still in grade school.

The other female student, referred to in court documents as Jane Doe, is also suing. Superior Court Justice Thomas Carey recently ruled that a trial will not be necessary in the case since “the evidence of the conviction is admissible as prima facie proof of the acts.”

Jane Doe’s lawyer, Richard Pollock, successfully argued Baggio is liable for sexual assault and battery, breach of fiduciary and statutory duty and intentional infliction of mental suffering.

“The plaintiffs have persuaded me that these three issues do not require a trial to determine the appropriate level of damages,” Carey said.

The only issues that do require the hearing are Jane Doe’s damages for loss of future income and her parents’ and siblings’ claims for damages.

No hearing date has yet been set.

Jane Doe and her family are claiming more than $1 million in damages against Baggio.

Like the other student victimized by Baggio, Jane Doe also sued the Catholic school board and board employees. Those plaintiffs settled for an undisclosed sum without the case going to trial.

ssacheli@windsorstar.com

SARNIA — Deliverance from decades of guilt, anger and anguish came with the barely audible “click” of handcuffs.

Gabriele Del Bianco, 57, a sex offender and former Windsor priest, was sentenced Wednesday to four years in prison. He will also be on the federal sex offender registry for the rest of his days.

One survivor of Del Bianco’s abuse clasped her hands over her face and cried – for once, tears of joy – as her former tormentor was shuffled out of a Sarnia courtroom in cuffs. She said later that watching Del Bianco in his last moments of freedom allowed her to feel something she hasn’t experienced in a long time.

“I feel free,” said the woman, whose identity is under a court-ordered publication ban. “I’ve been saying since the beginning that each step of the process was humiliating and hard, but the weight on my shoulders kept getting less as I went and now I’m done. I did everything within my power to take care of him and he’s been taken care of. So, I’m happy.

“To be able to watch him and clear that click, that was good. He’s in jail and he can’t hurt me, so I’m done.”

The former priest served in Windsor as associate pastor at St. John Vianney church and part-time chaplain at Brennan high school from 1985 to 1987. He was administrator at St. Rose of Lima in 1987 and 1988. After that he was associate pastor at St. Gregory in St. Clair Beach and part-time chaplain at St. Anne high school from 1988 to 1990.

He was also pastor at the former Sacred Heart church in Windsor from 1990 until 1994, before leaving the priesthood in 1995. Several years later, allegations of sexual abuse began to surface. He fathered a child – now in his 20s – with one of his victims during his time in the Windsor area. Testimony during the recent trial indicated Del Bianco reached a settlement for a one-time $10,000 child-support payment.

Del Bianco’s trial began last October in Sarnia for 18 sex charges involving four girls in the 1980s and early 1990s. He was acquitted of sexual misconduct charges involving two women but convicted of abusing the other two. He was found guilty in February of gross indecency and two counts of sexual assault.

Del Bianco abused girls on church property and in the basements of their own homes while their parents were upstairs making the priest dinner.

“I feel that we have all been robbed of so much joy,” the victim said Wednesday in court before sentencing. “Uncomplicated joy that comes from a world that makes sense. What Gabe has done doesn’t make sense. And, even more importantly, what God has allowed Gabe to do has left so many of us without faith.”

In handing down the four-year sentence, Superior Court Justice Joseph Donohue said he needed to send a strong message to others in positions of authority over children. He said parents take their children to church for “moral edification, not degradation.”

He also pointed to passages in scripture condemning people who mistreat children.

“This is not a new thing, to take a severe view of breaches of trust with children,” Donohue said.

Defence lawyer Andrew Bradie, who asked for a sentence of two years less a day, said he was “disappointed” with the judge’s decision.

“I’m hopeful that, to some extent, this puts behind some of the pain that the complainants have suffered,” Bradie said. “I know my client is prepared to deal with it. He is glad that this part of his ordeal is over. He will get through this, I’m confident.”

Before his sentencing, Del Bianco apologized to the two victims he was convicted of abusing and said he hoped the trial brought them closure.

“I regret deeply the pain that I have caused,” he said.

“I apologize to them for my immaturity, for disappointing them and breaking their trust in me.”

Del Bianco said he went to counselling and has left behind his “childish sense of self” and parts of himself that he “detested.” But he added that he doesn’t expect to be forgiven.

“I can’t expect that from you, but I do hope your future will be less and less overshadowed by the pain that I have caused,” he said.

The victim who spoke out Wednesday – about lost faith, emotional overeating, suicidal thoughts, paranoia and the shame and guilt that consumes her parents – said she wants to forgive him. But that is a long way off.

“I need time to feel safe and heal too,” she said in her victim impact statement. “I am hopeful that with time and support he will ask for forgiveness. I would be willing to listen. Perhaps when all is said and done, we can all find peace.”

A former university student whose neighbour sicked bylaw officers on him has won a court battle to have a $125 fine for a noise complaint overturned.

Kyle Brown, 25, says he is considering going after the city and his former neighbours for what his lawyer called “malicious prosecution.”

Brown was issued a fine by a city bylaw officer after a neighbour complained that she was awoken twice in the early morning hours of Sept. 8, 2012. Brown, who claims he was unfairly targeted by neighbours who don’t want students living in the area, decided to fight the fine in court.

A justice of the peace vindicated him Wednesday, ruling she did not believe the former student and his housemates broke the city’s noise bylaw.

“I believe your evidence,” justice of the peace Elizabeth Neilson told Brown. “The charge will be dismissed.”

Brown lived at 460 Askin Blvd., until June 2013. His father purchased the home as an income property, with Brown living there while he studied sports management and human kinetics at the University of Windsor.

Brown said that after his dad bought the home, they learned that its last occupants were students who had turned it into a party house, drawing the ire of neighbours.

On the day he moved in, Brown was confronted by a neighbour who took notes as he instructed Brown on the “rules” for living there, including when and how the garbage was to be placed curbside. Brown said he spent the subsequent years living “under a microscope,” with one neighbour in particular making daily complaints that never amounted to so much as a warning from police or bylaw officers.

Once, heavily armed tactical team officers descended on his backyard to break up a “large party” that didn’t exist.

On Sept. 8, 2012, Brown and his friends were returning home from a night downtown. The cab pulled into the wrong driveway -– that of the most vociferous complainant on the street. Brown, at trial, testified he “went into panic mode,” knowing the cab driver’s innocent mistake would provoke an angry response.

Sure enough, the neighbour began flicking her porch light on and off. Brown said he and his friends exited the cab quietly and went inside. Brown was later visited by a city bylaw officer who issued him a ticket for making noise.

Brown had two neighbours testify on his behalf. Both said they didn’t hear any noise on the night in question.

The judge in the case made no comment on the credibility of the neighbour who lodged the complaint, other than to say she believed Brown’s contrasting version of events.

Brown’s lawyer, Daniel Ableser, argued the woman was “a malcontent” who “harassed” Brown and his housemates.

“The history of complaints suggests this was a malingerer,” he said.

Ableser said he and Brown will discuss the possibility of suing to recoup the cost of defence.

The trial took two days, not including pre-trial and scheduling appearances. A parade of senior city administrators testified.

The city said Wednesday it can’t estimate how much the failed prosecution cost taxpayers. The city hired an outside firm to handle the case. “We’ve pulled that back in-house,” said Shelby Askin Hager, city solicitor.

Fines don’t cover the cost of bylaw enforcement, much less the cost of prosecuting them in court, she conceded.

Lee Anne Doyle, chief building official, said the city receives about 300 noise complaints a year. “It’s rare,” she said of a noise complaint resulting in court prosecution. “We don’t have a lot of issues that get to court.”

The city, in the past, was accused of ignoring neighbourhood complaints about the previous tenants of 460 Askin. Dubbed by the neighbourhood as “Club460,” the house was the site of huge parties where students, arriving in buses, would puke in flower beds and pee in the bushes up and down the street.

Fed up with the city’s inaction, two neighbours laid private charges under the city’s noise bylaw against the students who lived there. The students were each fined $500 and placed on probation, a term of which was to make no noise. When the students held another party, the residents had them charged with breach of probation.

Brown, who has moved home to Belle River and started his own clothing company, said he can understand the residents’ frustration. But he said he should not be made to pay for the transgressions of others.

He called his prosecution “an abuse of process” and “a waste of public services.”

ssacheli@windsorstar.com

A drop-in centre for women on Drouillard Road will close at the end of the month after not meeting its creators’ expectations.

The Blue House, which offered free meals, clothing, a needle exchange and referrals to other services, has been in operation for two years.

“It was started as a project to address the needs of street-involved women in the Drouillard Road area,” said Lady Laforet, executive director of the Welcome Centre Shelter for Women. “We never quite hit the mark with it.”

The building itself, a blue house near the corner of Richmond Street, is owned by the AIDS Committee of Windsor. The AIDS Committee came up with the idea of starting a pilot program for women there and approached the Welcome Centre about helping to staff it, Laforet said.

“It really never got out of the project stage.”

The Blue House has been open two afternoons a week, for a total of six hours weekly. It cost about $10,000 a year to operate.

Laforet said the program duplicated services offered by other agencies in the Drouillard area. But those services were supposed to be the draw for women living vulnerable lifestyles. “We were hoping it would be a door-opener to other ways of living.”

It really wasn’t, Laforet said. For example, off the 20 to 30 women who used the program each month, only a couple needed referrals to the central housing registry.

Staff found that sex trade workers and other vulnerable women would come in, take some clothing or ask for a meal in a takeout container and not take in all the program had to offer.

“At the end of the day, any agency has to sit down and look at how they’re using their resources,” Laforet said.

Joy, a woman who used to visit the Blue House regularly, said she and others she would socialize with there are disappointed it is closing.

“There’s nothing we can do about it, but it’s a shame.”

She admitted she is not one of the women the program was intended to help, but felt welcome there. She especially liked the guest speakers who would educate the women on topics like health and legal issues.

“A lot of good people came in there. I learned a lot,” Joy said.

Laforet said the Welcome Centre runs a drop-in program at its Bridge Avenue shelter and is considering expanding it. Some of the women who visited the Blue House have already begun to attend.

ssacheli@windsorstar.com

A gambling addict who managed an equipment rental business was sentenced Friday to three months on house arrest for defrauding his employer of nearly $86,000.

Alphonse Schleihauf, 43, sold a backhoe, loader and scissor lift at auction and used the proceeds to finance his gambling addiction. The sales were discovered in 2009 when Hertz Equipment Rental did a spot audit of the County Road 42 branch Schleinhauf managed. The auditor found “irregularities” going back two years, Superior Court heard Friday.

Schleihauf had always intended to replace the money, but got found out before he could, court heard. He turned himself into police before being charged criminally.

He pleaded guilty to fraud over $5,000.

“It’s not a very complex fraud,” said assistant Crown attorney Russ Cornett. Schleihauf did not destroy any documents to try to cover up his crime, Cornett said.

Cornett said Schleihauf co-operated with police in an investigation of a fraud at Caesars Windsor.

Krishna Steve Rambajan, the casino’s former director of engineering, was sentenced to six months in jail for a scheme that involved billing Caesars for an estimated $1.4 million for services that were never provided. Hertz Equipment Rental in Tecumseh was one of the contractors who sent the casino phony invoices, according to court documents.

Schleihauf is assisting the casino in its civil suit, court heard.

Schleihauf brought to court Friday a bank draft for $85,000 and a money order for $865 representing full restitution for the money he took from Hertz. Court heard he has started his own company and is getting back on his feet financially.

Schleihauf, a married father of three, said he is a changed man.

“Who I was is not who I am,” he told Superior Court Justice Joseph Quinn. Schleihauf said his gambling addiction and crimes helped him turn to God.

Schleihauf’s pastor sat in court with him Friday for support.

Quinn gave Schleihauf credit for pleading guilty and making restitution.

“This chapter of his life has been resolved.”

ssacheli@windsorstar.com

A Windsor man wanted on both sides of the border on drug charges was released on bail Tuesday.

Harpinder Sian, 31, was released on the consent of the Canadian Department of Justice during a court appearance in Windsor’s Superior Court. Sian had been in jail since turning himself in on Feb. 27 after learning the United States wants him extradited to face charges there.

American authorities believe Sian to be involved in a drug-smuggling ring that transported ecstacy across the border.

While Sian was in one courtroom dealing with his extradition, he was the subject of a separate court proceeding down the hall in the same courthouse.

Sian is alleged to be the confidential informant who led police to a man with a bag of guns and ammunition in 2009.

That man was Gurfathe Kooner, who claims Sian planted the guns on him. He says Kooner left the guns in his house, then, tipped off police.

Kooner, 28, was convicted of firearms offences in November. With new lawyers representing him, he has applied to have his conviction reopened to get more information about the tipster who supplied information to police.

Assistant Crown attorney Elizabeth Brown called Kooner’s assertion that Sian was the informant nothing more than an unsubstantiated theory.

“We don’t have a motive as to why Harpinder Sian was working in concert with police,” Brown said in court.

But defence lawyer Michael Lacey said if the judge learns Sian was indeed the informant who led police to Kooner, it would back Kooner’s testimony and “it could raise reasonable doubt” as to his guilt.

Lacey urged Superior Court Justice Joseph Quinn Tuesday to call in the police officer who took the tip and confirm whether Sian was the informant. That hearing could take place behind closed doors, so as not to breach the confidentiality agreement between tipsters and their police handlers.

Quinn will rule on the issue later this month.

ssacheli@windsorstar.com

More than 300 former Crown wards, including four from Windsor, have joined a $110-million proposed class-action lawsuit claiming the Ontario government failed to help them seek compensation for the abuse they suffered before and after coming into care.

Crown wards would have been eligible for damages in civil court or a payout from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board, the lawsuit claims. But the Ontario government, as their legal guardian, failed to pursue compensation on their behalf.

“Limitation periods have expired, evidence has disappeared and Crown wards who were victims of criminal and tortuous acts have not received compensation that would otherwise have played a vital role in their recovery and development,” the statement of claim says.

The lawsuit applies to anyone taken into care after Jan. 1, 1966, including current Crown wards, said Jonathan Ptak, a Toronto lawyer from Koskie Minsky LLP who launched the lawsuit along with a Thunder Bay lawyer from Watkins Law Professional Corp.

“The class size is in the thousands, likely tens of thousands,” Ptak said. “Only the government has the exact number.”

The province has not yet filed a statement of defence, Ptak said. The claims made in the lawsuit have yet to be tested in court.

One Windsor man, Garrett DePerry, 31, says he was taken into care at age three, suffering abuse and neglect into his teen years. His cousin, Holly Papassay, 42, of Thunder Bay, is one of the two representative plaintiffs in the case.

“They failed a lot of us. I want change,” he said of why he contacted the lawyers involved. “Little children don’t have a voice. I want to make sure none of these children are ever harmed again.”

Ptak said Thursday the two plaintiffs named in the lawsuit as representatives of the class have never tested the limitation periods by applying for compensation. He is unsure if any of the people identifying themselves as members of the class have either.

“We have had calls from all across the province,” said Ptak.

The lawsuit, filed in January and amended in March, is still in its early stages. A case conference is scheduled for August in Thunder Bay where the lawyers hope to get a timetable approved.

A motion to have the lawsuit certified by the court as a class action – the first step in the proceeding — will not be heard until next year at the earliest.

ssacheli@windsorstar.com or on Twitter @winstarsacheli

Read the Statement of Claims

A pair of convenience store owners who continued to sell illegal cigarettes after being busted were handed hefty fines and two years’  probation Friday.

In separate cases, Rivon Dali, 29, owner of a convenience store at 1095 Partington Ave., and Ali Gias Hanzel, 38, who owned Westcott Convenience on Westcott Road, were busted last year by RCMP officers. Hanzel was arrested twice, once in June and again less than a month later. Dali had been convicted of selling illegal smokes in 2011 when he was made to pay more than $11,000 in fines.

Dali was fined $40,500 Friday in Ontario court after being caught in December with 233 cartons of illegal cigarettes. RCMP officers, who arrested one of Dali’s customers leaving his store with contraband smokes, learned he was selling cartons for $20. A regular carton of stamped tobacoo with applicable taxes sells for $60 to $100 a carton, sometimes more depending on the brand.

“Mr. Dali is not exactly a stranger to this type of transaction,” said defence lawyer Frank Miller.

Court heard Dali had a special drawer in his store that connected to the basement of his abutting home. When a customer came in to buy contraband smokes, Dali would summon his wife who would put the cigarettes into the drawer for Dali to retrieve.

Police foiled their scheme by getting search warrants for both their store and home.

Dali’s wife, Lina, was also charged under the federal Excise Act and the provincial Tobacco Act. Charges against her were dropped Friday after Dali pleaded guilty.

Police seized nearly $7,700 from Dali’s store. About $5,300, believed to be from sales of illegal cigarettes, will be applied to his fine. The rest will be returned to his lawyer.

Dali, who smiled throughout Friday’s court proceeding, will have two years to pay the remainder of his fine.

Court heard Hanzel’s convenience store went belly up after he stopped selling contraband cigarettes last year. Last June, RCMP officers watched Hanzel take delivery from a known cigarette bootlegger they’d been following. They later raided his store and home then arrested him after finding 205 cartons and 52 loose packages of unstamped cigarettes.

Only days later, police received a tip that Hanzel was still selling the contraband. They raided his home and business again, this time finding 389 cartons of illegal smokes. The contraband was hidden in a hole in the wall of his store.

Hanzel’s lawyer described him as a “hardworking” man who sold illegal smokes to make ends meet. When he purchased the business, Hanzel continued the previous owner’s practice of selling the contraband, Miller said. “The profitability came from the sale of the unstamped tobacco.”

When Hanzel finally stopped selling the contraband after being raided twice –- the second time having his car seized –- the business went under.

Hanzel Friday was fined more than $51,200. Nearly $8,500 seized in the two raids will be returned to his lawyer. Hanzel has two years to pay his fine.

Charges against Hanzel’s wife, Diana, were dropped in exchange for Hanzel’s guilty pleas to four of the six charges they faced.

ssacheli@windsorstar.com

An appeals court has significantly reduced the record $1.46-million award for workplace bullying a Chatham woman won in 2012 in her case against Walmart.

The Ontario Court of Appeals lowered the award that Meredith Boucher received — after she endured six months of mistreatment at a Windsor Walmart five years ago — to $410,000.

“I was disappointed that the court of appeal reduced the award for punitive damages,” Boucher’s lawyer Myron Shulgan said Tuesday, “because the jury spoke as the voice and conscience of the community.”

Shulgan noted, however, that the court of appeal’s reduced award does not change the guilt of either Walmart or then manger Jason Pinnock, who subjected Boucher to profane and insulting mental abuse from May to November 2009 at Windsor’s east-side Walmart store.

“The Court of Appeal found that both Pinnock and Walmart treated Ms. Boucher improperly — and were accountable to her,” Shulgan said.

Shulgan said the original Windsor jury found Pinnock’s conduct “reprehensible.” The jury awarded damages for intentional infliction of mental suffering, aggravated damages and punitive damages, based on repeated conduct for such things as calling Boucher “a (expletive) idiot” and making her count skids in front of others to prove she could count.

“While we are pleased with the court’s decision to significantly reduce the damages awarded, we are reviewing the decision in detail and will consider all options,” Andrew Pelletier, Walmart Canada’s vice-president of corporate affairs and sustainability, said in an email. “Walmart is built on a culture that insists on respect for the individual at all times, without exception, and we will continue to promote respect in every area of our operation.”

The original jury of three men and three women, who decided that Boucher was constructively dismissed — in other words, forced out through abusive treatment — awarded her: from Walmart, $200,000 for intentional infliction of mental suffering, $1 million for punitive damages, and $10,000 for assault; and from Pinnock, $100,000 for intentional infliction of mental suffering, and $150,000 for punitive damages. She received nothing for alleged sexual harassment and discrimination. The original award also included $10,000 because another manager, who was subsequently fired, twice punched Boucher in the arm.

The Court of Appeal upheld the jury’s damages award of $100,000 against Pinnock and $200,000 against Walmart. However, the punitive damages were reduced from $150,000 to $10,000 against Pinnock and from $1 million to $100,000 against Walmart.

The court dismissed a counter-appeal from Boucher seeking compensation for lost future earnings. Boucher has not worked full time since being constructively dismissed.

The appeal was heard Oct. 7. The Court of Appeal judgement was dated May 22.

Shulgan said his client has not decided what next steps to take, if any. But Shulgan noted that seeking leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada is a possibility, given that workplace bullying could be considered an issue of national significance.

A worker in a local optometrist’s office embezzled nearly $10,000 by repeatedly skimming small amounts from the corporate bank account.

Najette Paulette Dubois, 37, pleaded guilty in Ontario court Tuesday to fraud over $5,000 for ripping off optometrist Roxanne Jubenville.

Court heard Tuesday that Jubenville got a call from her bank last July saying her account was overdrawn. When Jubenville investigated, she found that in the previous 12 months, there had been 84 unauthorized refunds put through the office debit/credit card machine. All the refunds — totaling $9,690 — were credited to two cards issued to Dubois.

Ontario court Justice Ronald Marion ordered a background report on Dubois be prepared by a probation officer before he passes sentence.

Defence lawyer Linda McCurdy asked Marion to put off sentencing to give Dubois the opportunity to repay the money she took.

Dubois is to be sentenced in July.

ssacheli@windsorstar.com