Newmarket Court Appearance Trip Report

To say that they were ill prepared for the group of individuals that arrived today would be an understatement. It was chaos for the most part.

"Found ins" jammed the court room and waited for about 30 minutes only to be told to leave the courtroom and wait outside. Eventually duty council would call 4-5 names into her room and advise them that there options to have the charges dropped were diversion programs which for 1st time 'found ins" were a choice of either a $200 donation to charity (which could be made right there to either The Salvation Army or a Mental Health Charity. The second choice was 20 hours of community service. For those that chose to make the donation they were then taken back into court and the charges were dropped. Those that were unable to complete the diversion today must do so prior to Jan 7 and appear in court again.

Anyone that has previously been a "found in" regardless of whether they were previously charged or not were given the choice of a $500 donation or 50 hours of community service.

All other matters were held over until January 7th. I will write more about this later as I am on my way out.

Comments

  • i look forward to hearing more.

    i take it you are heading back in january? best of luck.
  • pkrfce9 wrote: »
    i look forward to hearing more.

    i take it you are heading back in january? best of luck.

    Yeah I am. Will hopefully meet with duty council within the next week to see if a resolution is available.
  • so no criminal record then on file? if they took your fingerprints at some point, can you get those records back as well? Not really that bad an outcome considering the effort the cops went to.
  • pokerJAH wrote: »
    Not really that bad an outcome considering the effort the cops went to.

    The way I see it the players essentially paid for the SWAT teams live practice session.

    WP police force CFO, WP.
  • pokerJAH wrote: »
    so no criminal record then on file? if they took your fingerprints at some point, can you get those records back as well? Not really that bad an outcome considering the effort the cops went to.

    If your fingerprints are taken and the charges are dropped you can apply to have the records destroyed. Applications should be made 6-8 months after your final hearing and not before. Once they have reviewed your application you are called in and witness the records being destroyed. That is what was explained to me. All prints are now scanned.
  • Voodoo wrote: »
    If your fingerprints are taken and the charges are dropped you can apply to have the records destroyed. Applications should be made 6-8 months after your final hearing and not before. Once they have reviewed your application you are called in and witness the records being destroyed. That is what was explained to me. All prints are now scanned.

    Ooh ask if you can be the one to press the delete key.
  • Voodoo wrote: »
    If your fingerprints are taken and the charges are dropped you can apply to have the records destroyed. Applications should be made 6-8 months after your final hearing and not before. Once they have reviewed your application you are called in and witness the records being destroyed. That is what was explained to me. All prints are now scanned.

    Sounds like it is time to get back to my usual Friday night game; honestly, doesn't seem like such a big deal to be a 'found-in'; just some court hassle but no real charges at the end of the day.
  • Note that one of the best Friday night games was just shut down. Maybe any forumer who was actually there can post the details, but from what I heard, two cops walked in when there was just one table, searching for alcohol and cash, then ordered the organizer to shut the game down. :(
    pokerJAH wrote: »
    Sounds like it is time to get back to my usual Friday night game
  • BlondeFish wrote: »
    Note that one of the best Friday night games was just shut down. Maybe any forumer who was actually there can post the details, but from what I heard, two cops walked in when there was just one table, searching for alcohol and cash, then ordered the organizer to shut the game down. :(

    you mean the one where the game continued on until well past 2am? ya, that was likely the last game at that location.
  • Once your printed I honestly doubt the cops would throw that away. Without a criminal conviction I don't think they can honestly do much with it outside of know who you are. Since I had been previously found out with no charges ever sticking I wonder what they would do with me. Mind you it was never for poker. And NO Kristy, I wasn't in a brothel.
  • BlondeFish wrote: »
    Note that one of the best Friday night games was just shut down. Maybe any forumer who was actually there can post the details, but from what I heard, two cops walked in when there was just one table, searching for alcohol and cash, then ordered the organizer to shut the game down. :(

    I returned to my usual Friday night club this week and it is still running very strong with 5+ cash tables running by 8pm (2 5/5 and 3 1/2); I split early just in case the cops decided to pay a visit and I had my usual Friday home game to play at anyways. The owner is very smart since he changes location every week and only runs it one night per week. He also moves it between Mississauga, Brampton, etc. every week which would likely cause jurisdictional issues which would make it more difficult to close down. The location for the week is not disclosed until Friday afternoon and he still gets a full house every week.
  • pokerJAH wrote: »
    He also moves it between Mississauga, Brampton, etc. every week which would likely cause jurisdictional issues which would make it more difficult to close down.
    lol. you've heard of the peel regional police force haven't you?

    the rake with that guy is so high, we call it a rape...
  • pkrfce9 wrote: »
    lol. you've heard of the peel regional police force haven't you?

    my bad... shot me, I live in York region. at least the rake is 5%, although the max is very high.
  • After numerous delays I can finally say that this ordeal is over. Basically all "Keeper" charges were withdrawn and some community service hours need to be completed. Seems like the only ones that made money were the lawyers but they always do. I'm just glad there were no criminal charges and its done with.
  • Congrats man
  • Voodoo wrote: »
    After numerous delays I can finally say that this ordeal is over. Basically all "Keeper" charges were withdrawn and some community service hours need to be completed. Seems like the only ones that made money were the lawyers but they always do. I'm just glad there were no criminal charges and its done with.

    so no criminal record or charges? seems like very little downside risk to these club owners. they make a couple grand a night in cash and if they get caught, they have to do a little community work. Makes me rethink my day job :)
  • You should consider checking with the particular police force you had to deal with in terms of whether or not you are able to have the 'local police indices' documents destroyed.

    In spite of the fact that no criminal charges exist, they have the option of retaining any records regarding the incident. Generally most municipal police forces maintain in house policies regarding this. You would have to apply in writing to the police force in question.

    This may or may not be important to you. Sometimes I have seen this come up in criminal record checks for employment, etc. People I worked with applied for and received a pardon for a conviction, but still showed up hot on criminal record checks. Other people, in similar situations to yours, with no convictions had criminal record checks done and the old "May or may not have a criminal record" came back.

    Anyhoo, I worked for an organization that dealt with people affected by the criminal justice system for 10 years. Take my advice for what it's worth.

    Destruction of local records can be a real pain.
  • Yeah I guess it looks that way, unfortunately in my case I wasn't an owner. I worked there a few times as a dealer/tournament director but under the criminal code a dealer/director/waitress/bartender can be charged as a Keeper. The irony of this is my community service hours are being used to organize and host a "LEGAL Charity poker event" in the coming month. Just finalizing some sponsorships and logistical stuff that needs to be reviewed by the local authorities before advertising it. :)
  • You should consider checking with the particular police force you had to deal with in terms of whether or not you are able to have the 'local police indices' documents destroyed.

    In spite of the fact that no criminal charges exist, they have the option of retaining any records regarding the incident. Generally most municipal police forces maintain in house policies regarding this. You would have to apply in writing to the police force in question.

    This may or may not be important to you. Sometimes I have seen this come up in criminal record checks for employment, etc. People I worked with applied for and received a pardon for a conviction, but still showed up hot on criminal record checks. Other people, in similar situations to yours, with no convictions had criminal record checks done and the old "May or may not have a criminal record" came back.

    Anyhoo, I worked for an organization that dealt with people affected by the criminal justice system for 10 years. Take my advice for what it's worth.

    Destruction of local records can be a real pain.


    I intend to do so. I was told that I must wait a designated amount of time after the final court hearing before requesting destruction (deletion) of finger prints and other information and will do so.
  • Get support letters if you can from reputable folks (not from members of Pokerforum.ca!). Couldn't hurt to get in touch with a local organization like the John Howard Society and see if they have someone available to advocate for you or at least inform you of the process. They don't just deal with people in prison.

    In terms of time frames, my guess is you're being told to wait for a period of time because it takes that long for all records to eventually get placed in a central storage area or something.

    A local office of the JHS might have more information about this. I wrote a document/pamphlet about this process years ago regarding the Vancouver PD. I'll see if I can find a copy of it.
  • Get support letters if you can from reputable folks (not from members of Pokerforum.ca!). Couldn't hurt to get in touch with a local organization like the John Howard Society and see if they have someone available to advocate for you or at least inform you of the process. They don't just deal with people in prison.

    In terms of time frames, my guess is you're being told to wait for a period of time because it takes that long for all records to eventually get placed in a central storage area or something.

    A local office of the JHS might have more information about this. I wrote a document/pamphlet about this process years ago regarding the Vancouver PD. I'll see if I can find a copy of it.


    I appreciate the feedback and information .. thanks.

    At the time of printing which was all done with digital scanning I was told that once I applied to have them destroyed that I could be there to see them actually deleting all files. Should be interesting to see if that is in fact the case.
  • Voodoo, If you need a contact "in" at the John Howard Society, let me know. I know the local director here in Milton very well. I also do a lot of their computer work, here in Halton..
  • compuease wrote: »
    voodoo, if you need a contact "in" at the john howard society, let me know. I know the local director here in milton very well. I also do a lot of their computer work, here in halton..and have a back door into the cops' system along with cra if you need it ;)

    fyp.
  • lol, but that's not for free Water....
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