Man who stole money in British Columbia parents of bantam aged hockey players sentenced

KELOWNA, BC – A man who had stolen money from a hockey badociation and parents of affluent hockey players was sentenced to one year in prison but was released on the day of his conviction because he was sentenced to death. he had already served his sentence.

Loren Reagan and his former partner, Michael Gordon Elphicke, created the Okanagan Elite Hockey Association in 2010 in Penticton, BC, to bring hockey players and their parents on a European tour.

The court heard Monday that families were paying $ 5,500 per traveler for the European tour, minus the amounts they had collected by selling raffle tickets for raffles, which were operated without the required gaming license. .

Court heard the hockey badociation collect $ 130,000 in travel deposits and the draw between July 2011 and January 2012, but only $ 15,000 of that money went to the European hockey tour.

Reagan's trial, which was to last three weeks, was scheduled to begin Monday morning in Kelowna, but the Crown and defense presented a joint brief and Reagan pled guilty to stealing more than $ 5,000.

The Crown and the defense have proposed a conditional sentence of imprisonment, followed by a two-year probation and a stand-alone compensation order of $ 80,000 for the 16 families victims of his robbery.

Reagan spent eight months and eight days in prison, totaling 12 months and 12 days with improved credit.

He was arrested in Calgary in March after failing to appear at the trial in 2017.

BC Supreme Court Justice Mark McEwan accepted the joint proposal, but expressed his frustration at the sentence of imprisonment.

"I'm not happy about the duration of this mandate," he said. "It seems to be very light for what he's done."

Reagan and Elphicke have been charged with fraud over $ 5,000, theft over $ 5,000 and unauthorized management of a lottery scheme.

Elphicke was sentenced earlier this year to a two-year probation sentence followed by a three-year probation and was ordered to pay $ 117,000 in compensation to the 16 families.

The charges of fraud and unauthorized management of a lottery against Reagan were suspended by the Crown as a result of the conviction.

Reagan is not required to report to a probation officer and he is not allowed to work or volunteer on a title involving fundraising during his probation.

He went to court on Monday, expressing his remorse.

"I'd like to apologize for the circumstances," Reagan said. "It was bad management on my part and I regret it a lot."

The intention to make the trip to Europe was real, said defense lawyer Kim Russell in court.

"It was not a ploy designed from the start to thank the plaintiffs for their money," he said.

The reason the trip never took place is that Reagan and Elphicke were not good businessmen, Russell said.

Reagan was also involved in a dormitory building project for students at the Penticton Hockey Academy.

"That's where a big part of the robbery comes from: the use of (the hockey badociation's) funds for the dormitory project to obtain permits and various related expenses", said Russell. "And it was unbeknownst to the parents."

The dormitory project consumed $ 40,000 of the funds paid and collected by the parents, while $ 20,000 was used by Elphicke for personal use and between $ 30,000 and $ 40,000 for personal use.