NAPANEE — Kevin Wagar, a former Napanee-area financial adviser and Stone Mills Township councillor, has been sentenced to five and a half years, minus time served, in prison after defrauding two area families out of nearly $800,000 between 2010 and 2014.

The sentence was delivered by Justice Wolfram Tausendfreund on Monday, after being postponed twice, in May and June.

Crown attorney Monica Heine had requested a five- to seven-year sentence.

Heine acknowledged that Wagar has no prior criminal record, and that he pleaded guilty to both charges of fraud in March, but that he showed little sign of remorse over his actions.

“My submission is that it is paper-thin, that remorse,” she argued. “He has shown no insight with respect to the impact his actions have had, [even] on his very own family.”

Heine referenced the loss of Wagar’s parents’ farm after taking on the ownership of the property and then defaulting on that mortgage, leaving his parents destitute and in need of social housing help.

While Wagar’s mother submitted a victim impact statement alongside statements from the defrauded victims, she is not included in his charges or in his sentencing consideration, said Tausendfreund, who wanted to know the relevance of that information.

Heine said that the “parents’ personal circumstances show a pattern, a gross lack of insight [Wagar] brings to court to grapple with the fact that he is serially ruining people’s lives.”

“I’d like to impress upon your honour the lack of empathy that Mr. Wagar displays to this very day. It is almost unprecedented,” Heine said.

She described the amount of time that Wagar spent perpetuating his fraud, the often more-than-once-daily email promises of returned money, and the “level of deviousness” required to carry out the fraud over such a great length of time.

Heine also said Wagar’s behaviour was a betrayal of trust that will cost his victims not only their life savings, but will also affect those victims’ families and future generations.

“At no time did he attempt to make his victims whole … [and] it is my submission that there is no realistic possibility that will happen in the future,” Heine said.

Tausendfreund asked where the $568,000 and $231,600 from two victims ended up.

Heine said the money was deposited into Wagar’s personal account and never made it into guaranteed investment certificates (GICs) as it was intended. Each party received one “interest” payment, which came out of his investors’ capital.

Tausendfreund described Wagar’s defrauding plan as “a train down a track” that was destined to crash.

“How did he think he’d possibly repay in future when there were no sign of investment tools?” Tausendfreund said. “Surely he must have known that this would end in a train wreck. It is a puzzle to me how he possibly thought this would have a happy ending.”

Wagar’s defence lawyer, Lee St. Aubin, did not deny his client’s wrongdoing, but asked the judge to consider the lower end of a two- to five-year sentence.

“The victim impact statements speak of losses on a catastrophic scale, and we in no way dispute that,” St. Aubin said.

St. Aubin said that his client invested money in retirement homes and real estate and was planning to make interest back in that manner for his clients.

No paper trail could be provided for such investments.

St. Aubin said his client would accept a restitution order in his sentence, as it was Wagar’s intention to pay back money all along.

Tausendfreund was unconvinced that there was evidence to point to Wagar’s intention to pay back the money at any time.

As he handed down the sentence after an hour of deliberation, Tausendfreund again revisited the accused’s allegations that he had not seen the disclosure of charges against him before pleading guilty — an allegation that caused his sentencing to be postponed twice.

He read from various court date transcripts that demonstrated Wagar had verbally and in writing acknowledged his understanding of his charges as he pleaded guilty.

“I am satisfied that Mr. Wagar entered pleas of guilty with his eyes wide open,” the justice said.

Tausendfreund went on to explain his decision before revealing the five-and-a-half-year sentence.

“Funds did not find their way to any investment vehicle, but to his personal account,” Tausendfreund said. “[This was] for his own benefit, not for the benefit of those who trusted him and expected him to do the right thing.”

He described Wagar’s actions as “greed without any regard for the results his actions would leave in his wake.”

Without any evidence of an attempt at a business venture or project to generate funds for his clients, Tausendfreund described it as a “sad tale” for all involved — including Wagar, whose marriage fell apart during the timeframe of his fraud and who now sees his children on scheduled, supervised visits.

Tausenfreund passed down the sentence, plus a restitution order for the full amount of money defrauded.

“Mr. Wagar may surprise us all,” he said. “He may repay, even in a modest way, his obligations. If he does, he can [one day] feel that much better to walk down the streets of Napanee with his head held high. I hope he will end up doing the right thing.”

mbalogh@postmedia.com