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Mental Health Court news
BY JACOB BOON
WHERE DOES JEAN PIERRE D’ENTREMONT REST HIS HEAD?
That was the question at Dartmouth Provincial Court last week
when the Pubnico-born J.P. applied for admission to the province’s
Mental Health Court program.
Judge Pamela Williams expressed concerns that the wiry 28year-old
wouldn’t be able to adequately participate in the MHC’s
intensive treatment program if he was currently residing with his
parents in West Pubnico.
Drugstore toiling mom Pam, and tradesman pop Norbert, who
J.P. has been living with since the holidays, both accompanied
their son to court along with defence counsel Tony Amoud.
Boyne Clarke attorney Tony was a bit behind the eight-ball that
day, having just been thrown J.P.’s case that morning. To the
point that not only did he not know what his client looked like
(mistaking yours truly for the accused), but he also missed the
Mental Health Court’s odd 9 a.m. meeting, at which lawyers and
court officials overview the afternoon’s cases.
Aside from his profuse apologies, Tony also explained to Judge
Williams that J.P. retains his lease on his Morris Street, Halifax,
apartment and could stay there when required to by the Mental
Health program.
That’s the same apartment from which former federal beancounter
J.P. allegedly launched his trio of burglaries last fall, resulting
in his November 28 arrest on multiple break and enters,
as well as two charges of possession of stolen property under
$5,000; specifically items belonging to one Matt McLellan and
clothing belonging to a Chantel Deck.
Judge Williams allowed J.P. his apartment as a temporary resi-
Blowhard Edward gets hard time
BY DAN WALSH
METEOR CREEK RESOURCES KINGPIN
EDWARD WENGER WILL BE HER MAJESTY’S
GUEST UNTIL 2013 FOR THE BIGGEST JOB OF
FAKING IT SINCE MEG RYAN’S FAKE ORGASM
SCENE IN WHEN HARRY MET SALLY.
Wenger, 71, was sentenced to two years
in prison for conspiracy to commit
fraud by P.E.I. Supreme
Court Judge John Mitchell, who
denounced the faked Meteor
Creek natural gas discovery well
as “a scam perpetuated on an
unsuspecting public.”
In August 2001 in Bear River,
P.E.I., a crowd formed as a massive
gas flare erupted 25 feet into
the air, “causing dogs to howl
and Meteor Creek executives to
jump for joy,” as one on-the-spot
Guardian hack so aptly put it.
Unbeknownst to spectators and the
media, the much-anticipated flare was not
the sign of a significant natural gas discovery,
but an act of criminal fraud, cooked
up by company executives who simulated
a gas geyser using garden variety propane.
Edward Wenger
Less than 24 hours before the faked
flare, a company test found the surface
pressure in the well equal to about “the
tire pressure in a car tire that is half flat,”
Judge Mitchell wrote, concluding that officials
agreed they “needed a flare to maintain
the public perception that the project
was going ahead.”
Days after they salted the mine,
company exec Jeff Wood described
Meteor Creek in an email
as “Bre-X all over again,” as share
prices rose on the TSX nearly
20%, and about a million shares
changed hands.
Wood says he declined to participate
in the fraudulent scheme,
and was never criminally
charged, although Judge Mitchell
was “less than impressed with
(Wood’s) ethics and honesty”
and determined he was “implicated
in this scam in a much larger way
than he will admit.”
Capitalising on the trading frenzy,
Wenger unloaded 150,000 of his shares,
originally purchased at 72 cents a share,
netting him about $116,000. Within a
month, Wenger had sold a further 100,000
Lawyer Tony Amoud leads J.P. and family out of court.
dence, and set aside June 16 as a screening assessment date
where a team of clinicians and social workers will determine
J.P.’s eligibility for the Mental Health Court program, and create a
support plan to help him through.
Originally created back in 2009, the MHC acts as a voluntary
offender program wherein those charged with a criminal offence
directly connected to a diagnosed mental disorder can avoid a
conviction if they take part in various programs, clinical appointments
and frequent court check-ups.
jacob@atlanticfrank.ca
shares, as the stock hit a peak of 83 cents.
As the trading volume rose, investors —
many of them local Islanders — were quick
to buy in, acquiring more than $250,000 in
stock that proved hardly worth the paper it
was printed on.
The debacle was a huge embarrassment
to the then-Pat Binns government,
especially after Mr. Binns went to Washington
T.O. and told Bay Street bigwigs at
the Empire Club that Meteor Creek was
drilling in fields that held a quarter of the
natural gas reserves of Sable Island.
The Crown originally charged Wenger
and company veep David Fisher
(Wenger’s son-in-law), but dropped all
charges against Fisher — who Judge
Mitchell called “Wenger’s puppet” — in exchange
for his testimony against Wenger.
“The evidence is absolutely overwhelming
that there was a conspiracy,” Judge
Mitchell wrote. “Wenger had $277,000
worth of motive.”
Fisher went on to land a senior role with
the frackalious Petroworth, a junior oil
and gas exploration firm which holds a
N.S. licence for exploratory drilling on
330,000 acres around Lake Ainslie, Cape
Breton. Petroworth severed ties with
Fisher and former Meteor execs Patrick
Herne and Donald Young a few years back.
dan@atlanticfrank.ca
MAY 24, 2011 FRANK MAGAZINE 23