Sentencing delayed until New Year for hockey fraud case

One of two men convicted of fraud related to a failed Penticton hockey dormitory project is going to have to wait a bit longer before he is sentenced.

Michael Elphicke, who watched his guilty verdict via videoconference from a Calgary hospital in October, was set to fix his sentencing date on Modnay.

However, according to his lawyer, James Pennington, the Supreme Court hearing to set a date has been adjourned until Jan. 8, 2018.

In October, Justice Bruce Greyell rejected the argument that Elphicke was a beguiled, innocent bystander led astray by his former business partner and co-accused Loren Reagan when the two formed the Okanagan Elite Hockey Association to offer teenaged hockey players and their parents a tour of Europe in 2012.

Trial heard fundraising efforts and trip deposits from parents and players totaled $130,000 between July 2011 and January 2012.

At the trial, a forensic auditor testified the cash was used to enrich Elphicke and his wife by $17,000, mainly through salaries, and Reagan by $38,000 for personal expenses.

“In my view, Mr. Elphicke was actively involved,” Greyell said in October while deliver the guilty verdict.

Another $44,000 was put toward the failed purchase of nine cityowned lots on Eckhardt Avenue for a hockey dormitory that never came to fruition.

Elphicke’s lawyers have previously applied to have the charges dropped due to a delay in getting the matter to trial.

There are no mandatory prison sentences associated with the charges, however, the maximum sentence for fraud over $5,000 is 14 years in prison.

Elphicke remains free on bail pending the sentencing date.

A Canada-wide arrest warrant has been issued for Reagan, who did not show up on the first day of trial.

Reagan’s whereabouts remains unknown.