Man who obtained $500K from widow off to jail after appeal

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This article was published 27/11/2024 (652 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A man who was sentenced to house arrest after pleading guilty to dozens of offences under the securities and mortgage broker acts was given a jail sentence after the Manitoba Securities Commission successfully appealed.

Bret Alan Dobbin pleaded guilty in provincial court to 50 offences regarding 17 transactions totalling more than $500,000 from April 2016 to December 2017.

In each of the transactions, Dobbin took money from a widowed woman in her 80s. Provincial court Judge Michael Clark said in January that some of the money was used for Dobbin’s personal benefit, while some of it was used to fund mortgages. At the time of the offences, Dobbin drove the woman to church, appointments and errands, and took her to financial institutions to do banking, where he would instruct her to write cheques, including to himself.

Clark sentenced Dobbin in January to a conditional sentence of 15 months.

The commission sought an in-custody sentence of two to three years in the appeal, saying house arrest failed to address the sentencing principles of denunciation and deterrence.

It argued a past sanction by the securities commission after similar conduct by Dobbin was not assessed as an aggravating factor. It also argued the sentencing judge did not recognize restitution is unlikely given the amount that has been repaid and the fact the complainant is 88.

Court of King’s Bench Associate Chief Justice Shane Perlmutter agreed in a decision dated Tuesday that a jail sentence was appropriate.

“For those who commit this kind of crime, they should be aware of the consequences based on sentences given to others. In this sense, general deterrence and denunciation are important objectives,” he wrote.

Perlmutter ordered a jail sentence of 18 months, with Dobbin being credited with about half of the time he has served of his conditional sentence, leaving a remaining jail sentence of 12 months.

One condition of his house arrest allowed Dobbin to help the victim with household tasks and errands. One of the arguments the commission made in its appeal was that the condition shows the sentencing judge used the fact Dobbin continued to help the complainant as a mitigating factor, enabling “further exploitation by the accused of the complainant.”

Perlmutter wrote that the condition “results in a similar environment in which the accused committed the offences at hand, and thus risks fostering repetition of the offences.”

Chris Besko, the securities commission’s executive director, said in a statement Wednesday that the case underscores the importance of protecting vulnerable Manitobans from financial exploitation and holding offenders accountable.

“Dobbin’s repeated targeting of elderly victims demonstrates a blatant disregard for his victims and the law,” he said.

adam.treusch@freepress.mb.ca