Winnipeg man who took $500K from elderly woman has sentence increased to 18-month jail term

A Winnipeg man who took more than $500,000 from an elderly widow and repeatedly violated the securities and mortgage broker acts has had his original sentence changed from house arrest to a jail term, following an appeal.

Bret Allan Dobbin was handed an 18-month jail sentence in a judgment delivered Tuesday, following an appeal filed by the Manitoba Securities Commission.

In January of this year, he had been given a 15-month sentence in the community after he pleaded guilty to 50 offences, committed between April 2016 and December 2017 — which Manitoba Court of King's Bench Associate Chief Justice Shane Perlmutter called a "demonstrably unfit sentence" in his appeal decision.

Dobbin will get credit for time served under house arrest, during which he continued to assist the elderly woman who was the victim of the fraud with household tasks and errands.

"This case highlights the special need to protect older and vulnerable people from financial exploitation by those who abuse a position of trust," the decision says.

"While the accused has complied with the terms of the conditional sentence, nothing compelling has been presented in terms of rehabilitation or the impact of reincarceration on the accused's rehabilitation."

The Crown had pushed in the appeal for a prison sentence in the range of two to three years, arguing the sentencing judge committed errors that included not giving sufficient weight to the age and vulnerability of the elderly victim.

Perlmutter agreed, writing that the decision "failed to give sufficient weight to the gravity of the offences, the extent of the accused's moral blameworthiness, and the sentencing principles of deterrence and denunciation."

Dobbin obtained a total of $503,237.61 from a then 80-year-old woman, some of which was used for his own personal benefit, according to the suit.

Though they weren't close, he knew the woman through the church they both attended. 

After her husband died, the woman was left with about $500,000. In 2016, Dobbin met with the widow — who "had very little experience investing money" — and "would ask her to give him money instead of giving it to the bank," court heard during sentencing hearings.

He told the woman he would use the money to finance the mortgages of other people who would otherwise be losing their homes, and promised she would get her principal back within two years, with monthly cheques for interest in the meantime.

Dobbin was registered as a mortgage salesperson, but the securities commission confirmed the Winnipeg mortgage broker had been suspended.

The woman complied with Dobbin's requests, such as writing cheques, some of which were made out to him.

While the offences were being committed, he drove her to church and various appointments, as well as to the bank. Dobbin was also given power of attorney by the end of September 2016, and was named the woman's executor and beneficiary in her will.

The woman trusted him in part because he belonged to the same church, the appeal decision says.

Dobbin's power of attorney and inclusion in the woman's will were revoked around September 2017.

After the period during which the offences took place, Dobbin repeatedly asked the woman for money. That included a request for $45,000 in January 2019. 

She refused, since she had not been paid back for the money he had previously obtained from her, the decision says.

After he pleaded guilty, Dobbin was also ordered to pay back a large chunk of the original amount he obtained from the victim, though lawyers disagreed at the time over the total owed.

The estimates were between $200,000 and $400,000 last January, but the final figure — to be paid back through a restitution order — will be decided by a judge at a later date.

He has paid off some of that debt during his house arrest, the appeal decision says.