Cheryl Blondell

Sentencing decision following a jury conviction for fraud over $5,000 arising from a long‑running mortgage investment Ponzi scheme that defrauded 33 victims of more than $7.5 million.

The offender solicited investments through misleading promotional materials and used investor funds primarily to pay earlier investors and finance personal expenses and an affluent lifestyle.

Many victims were elderly retirees who suffered devastating financial and psychological consequences.

The court emphasized denunciation and general deterrence for large‑scale fraud involving breach of trust.

A seven‑year penitentiary sentence was imposed before credit, with enhanced credit for pre‑sentence custody reducing the custodial term to three years, along with restitution orders and a fine in lieu of forfeiture equal to the fraud amount.

The offender was convicted of second degree murder for the brutal stabbing of his wife of 32 years.

The Crown sought a parole ineligibility period of 18 years, while the defence argued for 10 to 12 years.

The court considered the brutality of the killing, the gratuitous violence, the victim's suffering, and the offender's lack of remorse, balancing these against his lack of a criminal record.

The court sentenced the offender to life imprisonment with a minimum period of parole ineligibility of 15 years, along with a lifetime weapons prohibition and a DNA order.