As soon as he was arrested on his return from Playa del Carmen in Mexico, a Sûreté du Québec police officer sentenced to prison for having defrauded his employer was quickly released on conditions pending the Supreme Court to consider his case.
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“At no time did I want to run away from justice or hide,” assured Nicolas Landry in the court of appeal, where he explained why he had failed the authorities in September.
The 47-year-old police officer, who is currently suspended, was then supposed to surrender to prison authorities, in order to serve six months in prison for defrauding the SQ of $42,000 in 2014.
At the time, the policeman went on sick leave due to major depression, but at the same time he was actively involved in the management of travel agencies owned by relatives.
Guilty of fraud, Landry appealed his conviction. And when he lost his case, he defied the court order, preferring to stay in the sun.
Through the voice of his lawyer René Verret, he then asked the courts to let him go free until the Supreme Court heard his case, but in vain.
“Your client is in flagrant violation of a court order, how do you expect me to intervene?” said a magistrate.
Travel agency
Landry finally returned to Quebec. Detained, he repeated the same request, but this time justifying his absence.
“When I’m in Mexico, I get involved with the family travel agency,” Landry said of organizing excursions for tourists.
And if he had not surrendered to the authorities, it was, he said in a sworn statement, because he had to retrieve a temporary residence card.
“I could hardly leave Mexico […] without the risk of losing my temporary residence,” he said.
He was eventually released, but in addition to surrendering his passport, he agreed to post $5,000 bail. His father agreed to pay $50,000 in the event of damage from his son.