The former owner of the Pourvoirie des Laurentides, now the Pourvoirie de La Doré, in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, Maxime De Varennes, risks a prison sentence of three years.
The 44-year-old man, who made himself known to the general public by attacking a film crew in August 2016, was found guilty last October of a series of frauds and pretense.
Between May and June 2016, he had defrauded nine companies for a total of approximately $130,000 by issuing 10 bad checks. He never honored his payment agreements and his victims were never reimbursed.
Judge Michel Boudreault had called him a “liar”, “manipulator” and “of great dishonesty”, in addition to being “completely careless of the consequences of his commitments”.
At the time of sentencing representations at the Roberval courthouse on Thursday, the director of criminal and penal prosecutions, Me Marie-Philippe Charron, demanded a three-year prison sentence.
“The accused planned and premeditated his actions, she argued before the judge. He never expressed any remorse and acted out of greed, which leads us to believe he could do it again.”
The defense suggests instead a sentence of 12 to 20 months’ imprisonment in society, with a sentence of community service in lieu of probation. According to Me Charles Levasseur, De Varennes must be considered the main loser in this whole affair.
“He issued bad checks to keep his outfitter and to save time, he observed. We are far from a case of greed like Vincent Lacroix, who misappropriated funds from small savers. My client has rather lost his outfitter.”
The lawsuit also asks the court to impose the reimbursement of the sums to the victims. The defense replied that the assets of Maxime De Varennes were not sufficient.
Judge Michel Boudreault will hand down his sentence on June 7.