Sentencing delayed in bigamy, fraud case of Cumberland County man

A Wentworth man who pled guilty to bigamy and multiple charges of fraud is to be sentenced Oct. 16.

Jason Keith Giddens, 43, was scheduled for sentencing on Monday in Truro, but provincial court Judge Warren Zimmer reserved his decision until the October date after listening to lengthy submissions by both the Crown and defense attorneys.

Giddens previously pled guilty to bigamy after becoming married to Danielle Pinkney of Truro while still legally married to another woman.

He also pled guilty to forgery in relation to a document that was presented as legal divorce papers, prior to marrying Pinkney at a ceremony in Maine in August 2012.

Giddens further pled guilty to seven counts of fraud totalling almost $23,000. Those charges stemmed from illegal shares that Gidden sold to seven individuals, including members of Pinkney’s family.

“It wasn’t worth, obviously, the paper it was printed on,” Crown attorney Rick Hartlen told the court, regarding the shares, during his sentencing submission.

Hartlen has recommended 12 months in jail followed by a period of probation and restitution of all the money lost by Giddens’s victims.

Legal Aid defence lawyer Nicolas Hoehne recommended two year’s probation or else no more than a 90-day jail sentence to be served intermittently, followed by a one-year conditional sentence.

Giddens does have a prior criminal record and Hoehne said a jail sentence would serve no useful purpose in this case and would restrict his client’s ability to make restitution.