A member of the clergy has been sentenced by Justice Ann Marie Smith to 6 years, 1 month and 24 days imprisonment for fraud.
Gavin Otto accepted responsibility for all 19 criminal charges brought against him during a court appearance in October.
The charges against Otto include 13 counts related to obtaining money through false pretences and six counts involving fraudulent conversion. The crimes took place over a 20-month period spanning February 2021 through October 2022.
Several of the fraudulent conversion allegations involve Otto accepting payment for construction materials and shipping containers that customers never received.
Otto also had a practice of writing cheques without adequate funds to support them.
Multiple service stations accepted cheques from Otto’s personal account in exchange for cash, only to have every one rejected due to insufficient funds.
Police executed a search warrant at Otto’s residence in October 2022 as part of their investigation. Officers reported that Otto attempted to flee the scene by climbing over a fence. He was subsequently detained, and investigators recovered numerous receipts and cheque stubs from inside the property.
