Con man jailed for second scam

Calgarian was on parole when he duped investors of more than $400K

A convicted Calgary con man who ran a second scam while on parole for the first will serve the equivalent of a 4 1/2-year penitentiary sentence.

Provincial court Judge John Bascom on Tuesday accepted a joint Crown and defence sentencing submission for Daryl Heiligsetzer on a charge of fraud.

Crown prosecutor Tony Bell told Bascom that Heiligsetzer was on parole when he duped approximately 45 investors of more than $400,000.

The scheme involved the purported purchase of a casino, Bell said.

“No money was spent on a casino and investors never saw any profit or return on their capital,” Bell said.

He was reading from a statement of agreed facts.

“The accused utilized two aliases during the scheme and at all material times was on parole or in custody due to a previous conviction related to a Ponzi scheme,” he said.

Bell said at one point during the scam, Heiligsetzer had his parole revoked for eight months but continued to run his con using aliases.

“Investors were promised a return of between 25 and 900 per cent, and received documents purporting to confirm their investment,”

The accused ... at all material times was on parole or in custody due to a previous conviction related to a Ponzi scheme.

he said.

The scheme was run between January 2009 and October 2010.

In July 2005, Heiligsetzer was sentenced to 5 1/2 years on top of time already served for a Ponzi scheme that mostly targeted Calgary Police Service members.

Defence counsel Adriano Iovinelli said Heiligsetzer, 53, is a native Calgarian whose brother is on the police force.

The father of three adult children was arrested in White Rock, B.C., in October 2015, Iovinelli said.

Heiligsetzer has been in custody since, Iovinelli added.

Credit for that time will be deducted from the 4 1/2 years.