Facing potential time behind bars, a city man who admitted scamming a senior out of thousands of dollars has been allowed to withdraw his guilty plea.
“My friend and I have an application to put before you to vacate the guilty plea,” Bitzer told the Calgary Court of Justice judge.
“This matter’s uncontested,” he said.
“The application … is to vacate the guilty plea and start again.”
Van Harten, who in February had indicated the probationary term being proposed by Bitzer would be an inadequate punishment, agreed with that course of action.
He had initially indicated there would have to be a formal hearing to determine if the plea could be withdrawn after he had heard a statement of agreed facts from Ross on Feb. 28.
Bitzer initially indicated he would be seeking a conditional discharge for his client, but when Van Harten said that would not be available given the charge Sandhu admitted, the lawyer suggested probation instead.
“If you’re thinking of proposing a non-custodial sentence I’m giving you the heads up that I would disagree with that kind of submission,” Van Harten said at the time.
Following Sandhu’s guilty plea, Ross read in a statement of agreed facts indicating Sandhu took part in a Sept. 9, 2022 senior’s scam that targeted Calgary resident John Roy, then 81.
The city senior received a call to his home from an individual identifying himself as lawyer Corey Wilson, saying his grandson was in custody in Philadelphia, Ross told the judge.
“He claimed $12,000 would be needed to cover the costs of bailing Roy’s grandson out of jail,” Ross said.
The senior was also told there was a “gag order” on the case so he was not to tell anyone.
Roy withdrew the cash from his bank and was told an individual named Michael Lee would be by to pick up the money and 30 minutes later a man showed up and took the cash.
But the fraudsters weren’t done and Roy received another call, this time from an individual purporting to be Wilson’s supervisor from the Public Defender’s Office in Philadelphia.
“Harvey Klein told Roy he required an additional $10,000 to cover the damage ostensibly to a vehicle by Roy’s grandson.”
When the senior returned to his bank, employees encouraged him to contact his grandson and when he did he learned his kin was neither in jail, nor in Pennsylvania.
When Sandhu showed up for the second payment police were there to arrest him.
Ross said the Crown was not alleging Sandhu was the caller or the recipient of the first payment.
The case returns to court next month.
X: @KMartinCourts