The former president of Babe’s Honey Farm appeared in B.C. Supreme Court Wednesday and was granted an adjournment of his fraud trial until March 19.
Ernest Mark Pitcher of Pitcher & Associates Public Accountants Inc., is charged with defrauding five clients of nearly $1 million in December 2010.
His three-week, judge-alone trial was scheduled to start on Feb. 4, but on the morning of the trial Pitcher arrived unrepresented.
Prosecutor Richard Fowler asked Victoria lawyer Bob Jones, who was acting as duty counsel that day, if he could assist Pitcher. Jones, who then asked that the case be adjourned, now represents Pitcher.
On Wednesday, Jones explained to the court that Pitcher is now working as a chef in a work camp in Fort Nelson and was going to fly out either Wednesday or Thursday.
Pitcher will return to Victoria on March 13, said Jones, asking for the case to be adjourned until March 19.
Jones said he is still waiting for information from the Crown and will sit down with the prosecutor in the coming weeks to discuss how best to proceed in order not to take up too much court time.
Pitcher was arrested by Saanich police on Dec. 30, 2010, at his home on Walton Road. The offences are alleged to have occurred between July 1, 2004, and May 19, 2010.
On the first five counts, Pitcher is charged with defrauding Island Marine Construction Services of $391,666, Richard J. Wey and Associates Land Surveying Inc. of $135,000, Troy Electric Sales and Service Ltd. of $23,235, JK Restorations Ltd. doing business as Goodbye Graffiti of $7,861, and Advance Conference Management Inc. of $59,948.
It is alleged that Pitcher told clients they owed money to the Receiver General of Canada for tax, payroll or GST amounts, Janna Hyman, senior counsel with the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, said in December 2010. The clients would write cheques that Pitcher allegedly used for his own tax payroll or GST accounts at either Babe’s Honey Farm, Oregon Creek (Canada) Corp. or his accounting firm.
Pitcher is also charged with defrauding Island Marine Construction Services of $65,000 and Richard J. Wey and Associates Land Surveying Inc. and or Kinsey Point Holdings of $273,734.
