A Guelph man who showed a “troubling pattern” of theft, fraud and repeatedly failing to comply with a probation order was sentenced this week to time-served, house arrest and more probation, along with an order to pay back his victims.
Brandon Harron pleaded guilty to 20 charges, including theft and fraud under $5,000, fraud over $5,000, possession of stolen property, failure to comply with a probation order and failure to attend court, on March 14.
His sentence was handed down by an Ontario Court of Justice judge on Wednesday afternoon.
“These offences involved a degree of deception and manipulation of people by gaining (their) trust,” said Justice Deborah J. Austin. “That trust enabled him to basically rip people off and caused people harm.”
Harron’s offences occurred between June of 2019 and this past December, at locations in Guelph, Centre Wellington and Wellington North, where he was hired to perform various home repair tasks and accepted cash advances.
He appeared in court virtually from Maplehurst Detention Complex, wearing an orange jumpsuit and glasses, with short, dark hair and a salt-and-pepper goatee. He’s been in custody since November.
At least one of his victims, Austin noted, told the court she suffered emotional and financial challenges as a result of Harron’s actions.
Only the one victim impact statement was submitted to the court – heard earlier this month.
On Wednesday, Harron was sentenced to time-served, as well as a nine-month conditional sentence of house arrest, followed by a year of probation. Included in his time-served is credit for lockdown conditions and triple-bunking at the jail.
During house arrest, Harron is to remain on his family home property in Guelph (exceptions for medical emergencies, medical and dental appointments and legal work purposes) with four hours per week allowed from him to “acquire the necessities of life.”
He’s also to wear a GPS monitor at all times, have no communication with his victims and he’s not to be within 100 metres of where they’re known to be.
He’s further ordered to pay restitution to his victims in the amounts of $8,210.97, $1,600, $500 and $300.
Among the mitigating factors considered in sentencing, Austin pointed to Harron’s past issues with drug and alcohol addiction, and efforts to overcome them, as well as his guilty pleas.
Austin opted to waive the victim surcharge – a 25 per cent fee that’s typically applied and used to support victim services programs throughout Ontario – because he has been out of work since at least November.
“I want the victims paid rather than the victim fine surcharge,” said Austin. “The focus is on paying the restitution.”
Without going into detail, Austin noted Harron’s previous criminal record is “fairly minor,” noting he doesn’t need to provide a sample to the national DNA databank because he’s already been required to do so.
Additional charges of theft under $5,000, failure to comply with a probation order and failure to attend court laid against Harron were withdrawn following sentencing to the previously mentioned charges.
