Hockey scam surfaces again
Conviction being appealed over Okanagan Elite Hockey Association
In a last-ditch effort to clear his name, the first of two men to go on trial in connection with the Penticton hockey dormitory scandal is now appealing his convictions and sentence.
Michael Elphicke’s lawyer filed the notice of appeal Aug. 10.
“I’m 52, I’m sick, I’m probably going to die and I just don’t want this hanging over my head,” Elphicke said Tuesday.
The Calgary man, who has end-stage kidney disease, was convicted last fall in B.C. Supreme Court of fraud over $5,000, theft over $5,000 and unauthorized management of a lottery scheme.
He was sentenced last month to two years’ house arrest followed by three years’ probation and ordered to pay $117,000 in restitution to 16 families that fell victim to him and co-accused Loren Reagan.
Elphicke will appeal the convictions on three fronts: first, that the trial judge erred in dismissing an application to stay the charges due to delay; second, that the judge erred in disallowing some exculpatory evidence; and third, that the judge erred in attributing some of Reagan’s actions to Elphicke.
The exculpatory evidence in question, said Elphicke, included testimony from two people who he believes would have minimized Elphicke’s role in the ill-fated construction of the hockey dormitory.
Excluding that “was a big issue, because it took away the doubt factor,” said Elphicke.
If the convictions aren’t overturned, Elphicke wants his sentence to be declared “unreasonable and unfit” and reduced, and for the restitution order to be dropped to just $17,000, equal to the amount by which Elphicke was enriched by the scheme, according to a forensic auditor who testified at trial.
Elphicke said he is abiding by the terms of his sentence — including making a $1,500 restitution payment this month — while the appeal is underway. Elphicke expects his appeal will be heard in the next four to six months.
Reagan, who is facing an identical set of charges, absconded before the start of trial and was arrested in March in Calgary. He’s behind bars at the Okanagan Correctional Centre awaiting a new trial in November.
Elphicke believes Reagan’s absence hindered his defence.
“I just felt that right from the beginning of the trial when Reagan didn’t show up, (the prosecutor’s) fangs came out for me,” he said.
That trial heard Elphicke was the first person to go to the police with concerns about the Okanagan Elite Hockey Association
It was under the banner of the OEHA that Elphicke and Reagan in 2010 organized a European tour for teenage players and their parents that was to feature games against foreign teams at a cost of $5,500 a head.
The organization and the trip collapsed, but a forensic accountant testified $130,000 raised and contributed by parents was used by Reagan and Elphicke for personal expenses and to start construction of the ill-fated Eckhardt Avenue hockey dorm.