Contractor who defrauded clients gets house arrest

As part of sentence, Brandon Lloyd Waite agrees to do volunteer work for two of them

SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. – A local contractor who pleaded guilty to defrauding some of his clients has been sentenced to spend the next 14 months under house arrest and will be required to do volunteer carpentry work to help make amends.

Brandon Lloyd Waite, 30, pleaded guilty in November 2023 to one count of fraud exceeding $5,000. He was sentenced on April 9.

During his time in custody, Waite is required to stay in his home unless at work or carrying out several other activities accepted by the court. He will also spend the next three years on probation. Waite is also participating in the Restorative Justice Program, which aims, in part, to help offenders make amends to victims and get a better understanding of the consequences of their actions.

For Waite, part of that process includes repayment of some of the funds lost by one of his former clients and in two other cases, he has agreed to put his skills as a carpenter to work completing projects for free under a set timeline.

According to the agreed statement of facts in the case, Waite’s business, The Cottage Company, was contacted by a family from Nova Scotia in September 2021 to build them a cottage on their lot in Canoe Cove.

The victims signed a contract with Waite and provided him with a deposit in the form of a $50,000 bank draft on Dec. 29 of that year. The family understood that the money would be used to secure building materials and to pay for labour that would be applied to the construction of the cottage.

But Waite’s company had been experiencing financial troubles throughout 2021 and he already owed creditors money for other ongoing projects. According to police, the deposit money was misappropriated between Dec. 29 and 31 and applied to other debts.

The only work Waite ever did on the Canoe Cove property was to place markers outlining the future footprint of the building.

Months later, between March and June of 2022, the victims were contacted by another family and a local non-profit organization who both said they had also paid Waite deposits for work that was never done.

On June 13, the owners of the Canoe Cove property officially requested their money back, but Waite did not respond, and the money has never been recovered.

According to police, the three property owners said they paid Waite a total of $140,000 in 2021 for work that was never completed.