‘A slap in the face’ — victims blindsided by Waterloo Region fraudster’s release from prison
Ontario Court of Appeal cut four years off Daniel P. Reeve’s sentence
KITCHENER— Victims of Daniel P. Reeve were blindsided when the convicted fraudster was released from prison on Friday after a court cut four years off his sentence.
“It comes as a bombshell surprise and huge disappointment,” said Dr. Ira Bernstein, 55, a family doctor in Toronto who lost $683,000 to the former Waterloo Region financial adviser.
“His devastation left a trail of victims hurting all across Ontario for years. I pray that he finds some decency to make good for his actions, and pray that no one should become a victim again from his actions moving forward.”
Reeve defrauded 41 people out of $10 million. Now 60, he was sentenced in 2018 to 14 years in prison — the maximum — for fraud over $5,000.
The six years of harsh pretrial custody Reeve spent at Maplehurst Correctional Complex in Milton were counted as 10 years. Last week the Ontario Court of Appeal cut the sentence to 10 years and he was released from prison on Friday.
“I’m disappointed, confused and nervous about him just being let out into the world — who knows what he will do?” said Carin Smith, 51, a warehouse worker in Acton whose $70,000 loss to Reeve contributed to the collapse of her marriage.
“Daniel Reeve took advantage of so many vulnerable people — even people he knew for many years.”
The sentencing judge called him “a devious, clever, calculating, cold-hearted man.”
Reeve was charged in 2012. After he was sentenced, the Ontario Securities Commission permanently banned him from participating in Ontario’s capital markets. He can never own or trade securities or serve as a director or officer of a company.
Karen Gingrich, 57, used Reeve as her financial adviser before she joined his company, DPR Financial Inc., as a bookkeeper in 2006. The Elmira woman, who quit in 2008, says her mother lost $100,000 to Reeve.
“I’m very saddened by this,” Gingrich said of Reeve’s release from prison. “It’s like a slap in the face.”
Bernstein agrees.
“It is ironic that in 2008 DPR Financial did a comprehensive written financial plan with me,” he said. “One of my goals was ‘Freedom 55.’ And here I am at 55. That freedom was stolen and now Daniel Reeve has his complete freedom back.”