A Kilbride couple set to go to trial this week for charges of fraud spanning a period of 13 years won’t have their five days in court until later this summer.
Leah and Doug Chaulk are both charged with defrauding Backyard Contractors between May 17, 2005 and July 31, 2016. The specific amount of the alleged fraud has not yet been specified, though it is in excess of $5,000.
Leah Chaulk is also facing two other charges: another count of defrauding Backyard Contractors of more than $5,000, this time between May 17, 2005 and August 15, 2016, as well as a charge of causing a North Atlantic employee to act upon a forged “island pass” credit card application as if it was genuine on the same 2005 date. The “island pass,” reserved for businesses, allows cardholders the ability to charge gas and access 24-hour pump service.
Leah Chaulk is said to have been a Backyard Contractors employee at the time of the alleged crimes.
When their case was called in provincial court in St. John’s Wednesday, the Chaulks’ lawyer, Jon Noonan, applied for a trial postponement, since the complainants had provided the Crown with more disclosure and he wanted time to review it and build a case.
Crown prosecutor Alison Doyle said most of the new information wasn’t part of the case she’d be making.
Judge James Walsh granted the postponement, but noted the case has now been called eight times since last September. A different lawyer originally representing the Chaulks, then later withdrew due to a breakdown in client-solicitor relationship. Noonan took the case over in April.
“The change of your lawyers and your own conduct are responsible for the delays,” Walsh noted, setting five new days for trial, beginning Aug. 20.
Leah Chaulk, 46, and Doug Chaulk, 47, have previously been known in the media for an unrelated reason. Three years ago, they went public with their teenaged son’s experience with a stroke and his subsequent recovery in an effort to raise awareness of the signs of stroke.
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Twitter: @tara_bradbury