THUNDER BAY – A convicted fraudster who has already spent time behind bars has pleaded guilty to more than a dozen additional charges, admitting to costing his victims a total of about $60,000.
Richard Belbas entered guilty pleas on 14 of 22 charges he was facing, including 11 counts of fraud, at the Thunder Bay Courthouse on Friday morning. He was arraigned on seven counts of fraud over $5,000, four counts of fraud under $5,000 and three counts related to probation breaches
Crown prosecutor Andrew Sadler read an agreed statement of facts of the case into court, detailing the offences that extend from early 2013 to late 2017.
In a number of the cases Belbas was hired and pre-paid as a handyman to perform home renovation projects, but after accepting payments he became elusive to contact and the homeowners were left with minimal or no work done.
Belbas had been hired in 2013 to renovate a trailer and was paid $5,225. Despite beginning the work but never securing the supplies or proceeding with the project, he was also able to obtain $6,000 loan. That money has not been returned, Sadler said.
Another complainant contacted Belbas in April 2014 after seeing an ad on Kijiji, looking to have an outhouse and a sauna built. A total of $6,325 was paid up front but the structures never materialized. The complainant was only able to receive a partial refund of $750.
A separate complainant hired Belbas last year to build a garage, ultimately paying more than $6,000 over three payments for various aspects of the project. No work was ever done and the money was not returned, Sadler said.
Sadler detailed another case where Belbas last fall approached a man working on a new home build, offering to provide windows. He was paid $6,270 but no products or services were ever provided and the money was not refunded.
Other cases involved Belbas claiming to sell sea-can storage containers, convincing people to pay in advance to order the items only for them to never arrive. Belbas used an alias in his dealings with at least one of those complainants, Sadler said.
In 2015, Belbas had been sentenced to five months in jail after pleading guilty in a pair of fraud cases.
Belbas last October had pleaded guilty to a number of fraud related offences on a separate set of charges.
Defence lawyer Watkins acknowledged in court the “pattern of behaviour is similar” between the two sets of charges.
A sentencing hearing for both sets of charges has been scheduled for November as the court awaits medical reports for Belbas that he said are not expected to be ready until the end of November.
When asked by Superior Court Justice Danial Newton, Sadler conceded any desire to expedite the process would likely be limited by awaiting those reports.
“The Crown is very interested in getting this done. The victims are very interested in getting this done,” Sadler said, adding he wants to receive correspondence directly from Belbas’ doctor.
Watkins outside court said Belbas, who is not being held in custody, is working under supervision and intends to earn money to pay restitution. Watkins insisted the complainants represent the experiences of a small proportion of people who have hired Belbas.
