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Vol. 12, No. 14, Tuesday, January 31, 2017 www.LamontLeader.com
Former CAO Miller convicted Michelle Pinon Editor
Shortly after 3:30 p.m. Thursday, January 26 Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Vital Ouellette requested Tom Miller to stand and asked him if he had anything to say? “No sir,” replied Miller in a voice that was barely audible. The former Town of Lamont Chief Administrative Officer also offered no comment to The Lamont Leader before leaving Courtroom 417 along with his defense lawyer following his conviction. Earlier in the afternoon 68-year-old Miller was found guilty of counselling to commit forgery and counselling to commit fraud against housing developer Gilles Filiatreault and urban planner Benoit Trudeau who was contracted by Jabneel Development Inc. that had planned a multi-million dollar housing development in the community back in 2008. The Crown had recommended six months incarceration and two years probation given Miller’s conduct. “The accused counselled them to tender fake evidence.” One of the aggravating factors is Former Town of Lamont that the stakes of the CAO Tom Miller $28.9 million civil lawsuit tendered by Jabneel against the Town of Lamont and Tom Miller are high and there was clear planning and deliberation that went on. Miller advised Trudeau he was getting fired and wanted me to meet with him and Filatreault, but Benoit did not call Miller back. Former Mayor Denis Durand also contacted Trudeau and acted as a go between the two parties in the summer of 2012, and on Sept. 28 they met at Boston Pizza in Fort. Saskatchewan. Miller said they had a chance to win at the lawsuit against the town, and let them look at a letter that had been prepared on town letter head. A few days later they met again and a letter of direction, power of attorney were also shown to Trudeau and Filiatreault. In return for that information Miller was led to believe he would receive 50 per cent of the proceeds from the civil lawsuit Jabneel had filed against the town. In reviewing the testimony, Justice Ouellette said those meetings that were secretly recorded by Trudeau and Filiatreault, will be of some
importance because until the alleged letter was produced on Oct. 4, 2012, “as these lawsuits were going nowhere.” Justice Ouellette was also curious as to why Miller would contact lawyer Mr. Fossey after he was terminated in 2011. While Miller said it was to open the lines of communication and to try and gather tidbits of information, Justice Ouellette said that did not make any sense. What also was not logical was why Miller would send a copy of the document to Durand and the town lawyer. While Miller denied creating the letter, he knew the letter was phoney. That letter was destroyed because he wanted to protect the former mayor. Fossey called Miller’s lawyers and said the reason for the call was that he was switching loyalties from Filatreault to the Town of Lamont. Justice Ouellette said there were inconsistencies in Miller’s testimony as well as evasiveness on his part by replying: “I guess so. I suppose so. He was not wanting to be pinned down with a yes/no answer.” During cross examination, Justice Ouellette pointed to the implausibility of Miller being in character. While the judge was left with reasonable doubt on counts one and two, to offer to sell or make available the forged letter as well as make a false document with the intent to induce a person to believe that it is genuine. “I was left with reasonable doubt that you were the author of the forgery.” While it was probable and likely Miller forged the document, he had to also be mindful of the reliability of evidence, since Miller didn’t know he was being recorded in those meetings, and that he didn’t find Trudeau or Filiatreaut’s testimony to be reliable either. Justice Ouellette went on to say, “Other than talking about it (forged letter), there was no further production of the letter. I actually don’t know who gave who what document between you and Trudeau.” He said it also was not logical for Miller, if he was the source or the mastermind of the letter why he would tell the town lawyer to say he would be getting 50 per cent of the proceeds from the lawsuit. “It defies logic…Why disclose that in an email?” He said that also raised doubt of who authored the letter. “The email exposes yourself, and you in particular, to being part of an illegal plan…You want the court to believe you were still role playing to see how far they’d go, but I reject that.” The Crown and Defense presented their recommendations in regards to sentencing, and Justice Ouellette told the court the punishment had to be a deterrent, denunciation of his actions, and reparations to the community. He added that the scheme Miller was participating in was over money. This is
all over money. That’s what we’re talking about.” Justice Ouelette fined Miller $200 on each count of counselling to commit forgery and fraud, as well as imposed 30 days of incarceration to be served at the local police detachment in his hometown of Wingham, Ontario. The remaining five months of his conditional sentence would be served under house arrest. Miller was also ordered to serve 240 hours of community service within the first five months of the six month sentence. There were several stipulations attached to his sentence, including a provision not to contact Gilles Filiatreault during that time unless it is in regards to a legal proceeding. Miller will not be allowed to travel to the United States during his time served. It was noted that Miller has no previous criminal record. Miller’s lawyer said the only sources of income Miller has is Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Pension. The $341,000 pay out Miller received from the Town of Lamont to terminate his contract was used to pay off the mortgage on his house. “I don’t know if you have remorse or not, but you haven’t expressed it….Dishonesty has to be a primary concern, and denunciation, so I will have to send you to jail.” Housing developer Gilles Filiatreault, who granted a short interview following the verdict, said he was satisfied Miller had been recognized for what he had done, and been found guilty. He also expressed his worry about cases like this in the future. “Six months in the community. What kind of signal does it send to those in power?” It has been more than a decade since Filatreault came out west to pursue his dreams, and has had to endure a great deal of suffering, both emotionally and financially because of Mr. Miller’s vengeful actions. Filiatreault believes Miller is the same today as he was at the time they signed the agreements, and when he was asking for his own commissions, except now, we have recordings and video to prove it. You have to be pretty smart to remember all the lies after all thses years, but the truth remains, even after all these years.” Lamont Mayor Bill Skinner, made the following statement on behalf of the town: “We are happy to see finalization in this matter. Although it was the actions of Mr. Miller after he left employment with the Town of Lamont, which led to his criminal charges, this has resulted in much negative publicity over the past four fears. Now that Mr. Miller has been found guilty and sentenced we hope to see closure on the matter.”