A Chatham man found guilty of unlawfully obtaining tens of thousands of dollars in child tax benefits in 2014 and in 2015 is not going to jail.
Justice Lucy Glenn has sentenced Michael Hulme, 40, to 18 months of house arrest. Hulme was also ordered to pay a $61,460 fine over five years as part of his restitution to Canada Revenue Agency. He'll also have to perform 10 months of community service.
The judgement came at a sentencing hearing on Tuesday afternoon at Chatham court via conference call because the courts are closed due to the COVID-19 crisis.
Hulme was found guilty of some charges in early March for scamming taxpayers out of $61,460 over 15 months when he claimed 26 bogus children, some of them born just months apart.
Canada Revenue Agency shut down the scam in May of 2015 when it became apparent that Hulme was not entitled to the benefits.
Hulme apologized to the court for the poor decisions he has made over the past few years and said he is trying to change his life. He told the court he has two legitimate children who look up to him and he's trying to be a role model.
Hulme has an extensive criminal record and Crown Prosecutor Paul Bailey told the court he committed this latest crime while he was on probation for other crimes. Bailey was looking for a sentence of 12-18 months behind bars. Bailey told Justice Glenn that Hulme had 11 prior convictions for "dishonesty" and was previously jailed 10 times, including as a young offender. Bailey also said Hulme was not complying with his previous probation, forged previous probation reporting entries and signatures on his previous community service, which was not complete. Bailey told the court he was concerned about Hulme's "systematic fraud", his determination to commit this crime, and wanted to restore public trust and confidence given the serious degree of this fraud.
"I'm concerned about his criminal record," said Justice Glenn.
The court heard the fraud was premeditated and deceptive in nature. Bailey said this fraud was serious and lengthy and it involved public funds paid by taxpayers for legitimate needs. Bailey added Hulme spent the child tax benefits on things like rent and furniture.
Bailey also had a problem with Hulme's "absence of remorse" because Hulme didn't plead guilty and a trial had to be conducted.
Defence lawyer Ken Marley was looking for house arrest of two years less a day and community service but Bailey said we're all under house arrest, referring to the COVID-19 emergency restrictions imposed by the government.
"So many people are already in isolation and already serving conditional sentences," Bailey added.
Marley and Bailey were both concerned about Hulme being incarcerated during COVID-19 because of the danger it would pose for him and corrections officers. Bailey wanted the sentencing delayed about six weeks to get a better read on how the pandemic was going.
"People put in custody at this time face grave danger due to COVID-19," said Marley.
The court was also told Hulme has an intellectual deficit and suffers from mental issues such as schizophrenia and paranoia but the Crown said there's no evidence this crime was driven by those issues.
"The motivation was greed," said Bailey.
Marley said Hulme came from an abusive family, was previously alcoholic, and is getting treatment and counselling for his mental illness. Hulme was also told to leave the family at 18 years of age and Marley said that had an extreme impact on his client.
Marley disagreed that this fraud was complex and blames the Canada Revenue Agency for its antiquated system and making it so easy. He said Hulme used his own mailing address and email to get the benefits he wasn't entitled to.
"The fraud was not complex, it was the opposite," said Marley. "Mister Hulme is an ordinary man who committed a simple fraud."
The Crown was looking for more of a deterrence to send a message to others that the crime is not worth the risk.
