Ex-public servant will not face fraud trial in case of Toronto cop who allegedly stole $800,000 estate

A former Ontario authorities worker not faces fraud prices tied to allegations that she and a Toronto police officer submitted a solid will that put $800,000 into his checking account, depriving the rightful inheritor of his inheritance.

After a preliminary listening to, Justice Enzo Rondinelli this week determined there was not sufficient proof to order Adellene Balgobin, 34, to face trial in Superior Courtroom on fraud prices regarding the property of Heinz Sommerfeld, who died in a Mississauga long-term care residence on June 19, 2017, at age 77.

Whereas the discharge means Balgobin is basically acquitted of two fraud prices, the Crown might nonetheless enchantment. Balgobin additionally nonetheless faces a breach of belief cost that was not examined at a preliminary inquiry due to the character of the offence.

On the time of Sommerfeld’s dying, Balgobin was a senior consumer consultant with the Workplace of the Public Guardian and Trustee (OPGT.) She had been accountable for his affairs whereas he was alive.

The OPGT is an Ontario authorities company that manages the funds of greater than 12,000 individuals who lack the psychological capability to do that themselves. That workplace additionally administers the estates of some Ontarians who die with out a legitimate will and with out next-of-kin dwelling within the province.

The decide did discover there was sufficient proof that Toronto police Const. Robert Konashewych, 38, can face trial on prices of fraud. After Sommerfeld’s dying, Konashewych got here ahead with a doc purporting to be Sommerfeld’s final will and testomony, naming the officer as the only real beneficiary and executor of the property.

The allegations in opposition to Konashewych haven't been confirmed. In an e-mail to the Star, his lawyer Peter Brauti mentioned his consumer “denies the allegations and the matter will probably be continuing to a trial.”

The Star can't report the small print of Konaschewych’s preliminary listening to because of a routine publication ban.

The Toronto Police Service and prosecutors allege that may isn’t reputable and that Sommerfeld died “intestate,” which suggests he left no directions on how his property was to be divided. When that occurs, Ontario’s Succession Legislation Reform Act spells out how the property is distributed.

As a result of Sommerfeld had no surviving dad and mom — nor any kids — police and the Crown say no matter funds he left behind ought to have gone to a half-brother, Peter Stelter, who lives in central Ontario’s cottage nation.

Stelter, who's in his mid-70s, didn't reply to a request for remark, however beforehand he and his spouse informed the Star the matter was unsettling. He and Sommerfeld, who labored for the Ontario transportation division, had the identical mom; as of final fall, he had not collected any cash from the property.

Main as much as Sommerfeld’s dying, Balgobin had been romantically concerned with Konashewych for a number of years whereas he was in a common-law relationship with one other lady.

Konashewych, 38, who stays on paid suspension from Toronto police, can also be charged with making an attempt to impede justice.

The Ministry of the Legal professional Normal, which oversees the OPGT, has known as what occurred over the Sommerfeld property an “remoted incident.”

Nonetheless, a 2018 auditor basic report discovered the OPGT wasn’t dwelling as much as its mandate to guard the monetary pursuits of the mentally incapable adults underneath its guardianship.

The auditors concluded “a threat exists that purchasers’ belongings could possibly be misplaced or misappropriated due to weak inner controls.” Nor did the OPGT have “efficient inner controls” to distribute belongings to heirs.

The OPGT has 289 excellent property recordsdata a minimum of 10 years for the reason that date of dying or older, value $30 million.

The 2018 audit additionally discovered employees lacked coaching to detect fraudulent paperwork introduced by these purporting to be an property’s inheritor.

“The potential exists that people with felony backgrounds might try and misappropriate consumer funds,” the auditor’s report states.

In response to Star queries, Ministry of Legal professional Normal spokesman Brian Grey wrote in an e-mail that the OPGT has applied the auditor basic’s beneficial coaching to employees for the prevention of payouts to estates utilizing fraudulent identification.

Lawyer Suzana Popovic-Montag, who has nothing to do with the case, says whereas it’s necessary to carry the OPGT accountable, she finds it onerous to be overly crucial of the workplace.

“The truth is this might have occurred to any lawyer,” says Popovic-Montag, managing companion with a Toronto property litigation agency. “When somebody is available in our workplace with a will and says, ‘hey, I’m the named executor, I need to administrate this property and I need to apply for probate, assist me,’ we do,” she says.

“That workplace is busy, like every authorities workplace they’re short-staffed and there’s simply no actual option to defend in opposition to all attainable loss and misappropriation. Like anybody else, they’re balancing quantity with efficiencies.”

As for issuing a cheque for greater than $800,000 for an allegedly bogus will, Popvic-Montag provides: “however for the grace of God go many legal professionals.”

Balgobin’s lawyer, Julianna Greenspan, wrote in an e-mail to the Star that the case “is a reminder in regards to the significance of preliminary inquiries in our felony justice course of.

“Ms. Balgobin has asserted her innocence all through and is glad to have this ordeal finish with a discharge.”