Judge balks at house arrest request

MONTREAL• A woman who admitted she violated the sentence she received for defrauding an elderly woman of her life savings has asked a judge that she be allowed to continue her house arrest so she can keep taking her daughter to horseback riding lessons.

Quebec Court Judge Dennis Galiatsatos said he was appalled when he heard the common suggestion made on Tuesday by prosecutors François Allard and Annick Pelletier as well as defence lawyer Jean El Masri on what they felt was an appropriate sentence for Anita Obodzinski, 54, of Montreal.

On Jan. 9, 2018, Obodzinski and her husband Arthur Trzciakowski, 51, pleaded guilty to having defrauded Veronika Piela out of her life savings when the victim was 89 years old. In 2013, Obodzinski obtained a protection mandate that allowed her to take control of Piela’s life, steal more than $474,000 from her and force the victim out of her home.

Obodzinski pleaded guilty to obstructing justice, mischief and knowingly using forged documents. She received a sentence of two years less a day that she could serve in the community, including a period of house arrest. She has since admitted she violated her house arrest twice by not being home when her probation officer called her home last summer to check to see if she was respecting her conditions.

On Tuesday, lawyers on both sides of the case said they agreed that extending her period of house arrest by more than two months was fair because it would leave Obodzinski with four months of house arrest left to serve.

The judge reacted by saying he was appalled that a person who already caught a break by receiving a sentence she could serve in the community should expect another break “after having defrauded (an 89-year-old) woman while she was in the final years of her life.”

Piela died in December of 2016.

Galiatsatos is somewhat bound by a precedent set by the Supreme Court of Canada, in 2016, in cases involving joint submissions on a sentence. But the judge noted he was aware of the precedent when he said he was shocked by what the lawyers recommend ed.

Obodzinski asked that she be allowed to continue serving her sentence in the community because she is the only person who can take her teenage daughter to horseback riding lessons on Saturdays. She said a therapist from Boston recommended the lessons as therapy after her daughter was bullied in school by students who were aware of the crimes her parents committed.

“When she is on those horses she just forgets everything,” Obodzinski said.

Galiatsatos will deliver his decision on March 21.