Former Vernon mayor pleads guilty to breach of trust

By David WylieTuesday, August 22, 2006 http://www.dailycourier.ca/article_467.php
Former Vernon mayor Sean Harvey made a tearful apology in front of a provincial court judge Monday after pleading guilty to breach of public trust.Wearing a black suit, white shirt and blue-striped tie, Harvey, 36, stood before Judge B.J. Chapman and said he was sorry to the citizens of Canada, citizens of Vernon and public officials.“We live in a time of an increasing mistrust of public officials and I’ve contributed to that,” said Harvey. “I apologize to the citizens of Vernon. It’s a great little city and a dynamic place. I hope once free of this cloud, it will continue to prosper.”After a long pause, Harvey began to cry and offered a broken apology to his family, many of whom were seated in the first and second row of room 201 in the Vernon courthouse.“I apologize to my family and my loved ones and friends,” he sobbed. “Their support has never wavered and I truly regret the shame I’ve brought on them.”As he sat, his fiancée – who is seven months pregnant – reached forward and touched his shoulder. Harvey was originally facing one count of fraud over $5,000 and one count of breach of public trust. The Crown has since dropped the fraud charge.A date will be set Wednesday for Harvey’s sentencing, which is expected to be in September. Both prosecution and defence have agreed Harvey should pay restitution and possibly perform community service. They also agreed he should be given a conditional sentence – which would be served in the community rather than prison. However, they differed on the length of the sentence; the Crown wanted 18 months and the defence wanted eight months to a year.During the hour-and-a-half session Monday morning, Crown counsel Stephen Cooke outlined the facts of the case.Harvey, Vernon’s youngest mayor, was elected to council in November 1999. He was 29 years old. It was during his second term as mayor that he began misusing his City of Vernon credit card.Between February 2003 and April 2005, Harvey submitted false expense claims 90 times, asking for reimbursement for restaurant meals in Vernon, Kelowna, Salmon Arm, Vancouver and Victoria, as well as West Jet flights to Vancouver that were not business related – for a total of $13,838.60 in false claims.“He told the police that he started with the intention of hiding investors’ identities,” said Cook. But eventually, “he crossed the line.” “Due to his lifestyle . . . he faced economic pressures that contributed to the improper use,” said the prosecutor.So far, of his own volition Harvey has paid back $5,250, leaving $8,588.60 still owing. The attempt to pay restitution is one of several factors that should lead the judge to handing down a shorter sentence of between eight months to a year, said defence counsel Rob Bruneau.Bruneau presented letters of support for Harvey from past and present city council members, citizens, city staff and local business people.After his public resignation as mayor in April 2005, Harvey had trouble finding steady employment, and worked odd jobs doing renovations, living mainly off his savings. He’s now living in Salmon Arm with his parents, and has recently started working full time as the logistics manager of B.C.-based BigSteelBox.com – a job that involves travel within the province 25 per cent of the time. Bruneau asked that the judge consider Harvey’s travel needs when imposing his sentence.Harvey started seeing a counsellor after resigning to try and get to the bottom of why he committed the crime. But passed on offering up any explanation to the court.“He says to me that he is not interested in providing any explanations or rationales – they’ll end up sounding like excuses,” said his lawyer.Still, Cook offered up his own theory: “He was an innovative mayor, and as a result of that, as I understand it, he was under a great deal of pressure. It would appear he reacted badly to that pressure and sought comfort in entertainment and that sort of thing.”It was behaviour that was “out of character” for Harvey, argued Cook.Outside of the court, Harvey delivered his apology for the benefit of the TV news cameras not allowed inside the courtroom. With his family surrounding him, he answered several questions from reporters.