The former Innisfail RCMP officer who was convicted of criminal harassment, extortion and mortgage fraud was sentenced to seven years in jail on Aug. 31 when he appeared in the Court of Queen's Bench in Red Deer.
The former Innisfail RCMP officer who was convicted of criminal harassment, extortion and mortgage fraud was sentenced to seven years in jail on Aug. 31 when he appeared in the Court of Queen's Bench in Red Deer.
Hoa Dong La, 47, was found guilty in March of 14 charges. Those charges included two counts of criminal harassment, two counts of extortion and 10 counts of fraud. The verdict came after a trial that took place in late January and early February.
Crown prosecutor Leah Boyd asked for a total sentence of nine years in jail during her arguments on Aug. 31. Defence counsel Heather Ferg suggested a conditional sentence order. A conditional sentence order is time served in the community with the offender operating under strict requirements like house arrest or curfews. To qualify for a conditional sentence order the sentence must be two years less a day.
Victim impact statements were read into the record from three of La's former tenants.
Justice David Gates sentenced La to serve seven years in total. The breakdown of the sentence saw La receive three years in jail for the first criminal harassment charge, with another three years to be served at the same time for the related extortion charge. The same sentence was given for the second set of criminal harassment and extortion charges.
He received a total of one year for the various mortgage fraud charges, which were divvied up into sets of two months. An exception was a count where a false statutory declaration was filed and, which Gates sentenced at four months.
Gates acknowledged La's defence team had shown in their sentencing submissions that La had a documented problem with oral communication in English, as it was not his first language. However, Gates did not accept the argument it could have led to such extreme miscommunications with the victims.
"I do not accept that this somehow explains how things could have gotten so out of hand," Gates said.
"Mr. La's conduct constitutes a breach of public trust," the justice said of La's status as an RCMP officer at the time of the offences.
The extortion and criminal harassment charges related to La's relationship and interactions with tenants of his rental properties in Innisfail and Bowden. Testimony during trial said La harassed and extorted a tenant of an acreage near Bowden in 2003, driving them to leave the property. The other set of extortion and harassment charges had to do with a rent-to-own deal La made in 2005-06 with a family that resided in Innisfail.
The extortion and criminal harassment charges related to La's relationship and interactions with tenants of his rental properties in Innisfail and Bowden. Testimony during trial said La harassed and extorted a tenant of an acreage near Bowden in 2003, driving them to leave the property. The other set of extortion and harassment charges had to do with a rent-to-own deal La made in 2005-06 with a family that resided in Innisfail.
A fourth property was said to be owned by La's brother but the Crown contended at trial it was actually owned by La.
Further charges were laid with the fourth property because it was alleged the bank was persuaded to release $20,000 of "holdback" money because a fraudulent invoice was submitted to them for renovation work that had never been done.
La resigned from the RCMP in June. He'd been suspended with pay in November 2006.
For more details on the sentencing, see the Innisfail Province on Sept. 11.
