Judge wrong to punish Daniel P. Reeve for lack of remorse, court rules

Court of Appeal cut former Waterloo Region financial adviser’s sentence to 10 years

KITCHENER — The judge who sentenced former Waterloo Region financial adviser Daniel P. Reeve for fraud over $5,000 was wrong to punish him for a lack of remorse, Ontario’s top court says.

Reeve, 60, was sentenced in 2018 to the maximum — 14 years in prison. The Ontario Court of Appeal last month cut it to 10 years and Reeve was released from prison. The court gave its reasons for reducing the sentence on Wednesday.

Reeve made an apology before being sentenced but the sentencing judge, Justice Toni Skarica, called it “hollow.”

The Court of Appeal ruled Skarica was allowed to make that finding but erred in using a lack of remorse as an aggravating factor to increase the sentence.

“While a genuine expression of remorse can serve to mitigate a sentence, the opposite is not true,” a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeal ruled. “An offender cannot be punished for a lack of remorse.

“Even after a guilty verdict, an accused is entitled to maintain his or her innocence and cannot be punished for maintaining that stance. Punishing a person for maintaining their innocence ... could do serious harm to the criminal justice system.”

Reeve defrauded 41 people out of $10 million. His six years of harsh pretrial custody were counted as 10 years.

The Court of Appeal said the range of sentences for largescale frauds is eight to 12 years. A 14-year sentence had never been handed out before, “even in cases where the facts were more egregious than the ones here,” the court said.

The Crown tabled evidence at the appeal suggesting Reeve still poses a danger.

“In violation of his parole officer’s direction, he pursued the publication and sale of a book that is described as containing strategies on becoming financially secure,” the Court of Appeal said.

“(He) also met with a person who is described as being ‘financially vulnerable’ and suggested an arrangement to lend her money to buy into a series of informational courses. She would then assist him in soliciting others to buy the book and take the courses at a cost of $5,000 per person.”

No criminal charges were laid. “It is important to start with the observation that the appellant can only be punished for the conduct that he was convicted of,” the Court of Appeal said. “He cannot be punished, or be seen to be punished, for conduct that is alleged to have occurred a year after his sentence was imposed.”

Although he is out of prison, Reeve must reimburse the victims within 10 years or face another decade behind bars.