By Spencer Sterritt

Romance scammer denied bail during sentencing hearing

Apr 25, 2018 | 10:10 PM

NANAIMO — The Nanaimo man who pleaded guilty to swindling vulnerable women out of thousands of dollars online won’t enjoy any freedom as he awaits sentencing for his crimes.

Jordan Shepherd was denied bail on Wednesday, April 25 during the second day of a sentencing hearing at provincial court in Nanaimo. He previously pleaded guilty to all seven counts of theft under $5,000 he faced for defrauding and taking financial advantage of women over several years for a total of $13,200.

The Honourable Judge Ronald Lamperson said detaining Shepherd would be required since he was at risk of fleeing the area and Lamperson wasn’t convinced efforts to keep him under house arrest would be sufficient. The full details of the bail hearing are under a publication ban.

Lamperson made his decision after a marathon day of court, which stretched beyond the normal time limit.

First he heard the victim impact statements from the seven women Shepherd used to cash fake cheques after meeting them online or briefly in person.

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The common theme throughout the victim impact statements was the anxiety and shame the seven women felt after being used in Shepherd’s schemes.

They described feeling “physically ill” and “defenseless” and all said their credit scores and financial situations were seriously harmed by loaning Shepherd money.

“I have since had several relationships fail due to my insecurities and fear of being manipulated and frauded again,” one statement read. “I’ve had men stop dating me because I now demand proof of any statements they say…Potential suitors dump me when they find out I’m one of Jordan Shepherd’s victims.”

A visibly gaunt Shepherd with noticably thinner hair sat with his head down during most of the hearing, while his parents sat in the front of the gallery hearing details of their son’s misdeeds for nearly eight hours.

Crown counsel Kendra Waugh, who finished her sentencing submissions Wednesday, said Shepherd actively ensnared women and constructed their involvement in his crimes, rather than acting on a crime of opportunity like most fraud cases.

Judge Lamperson is now faced with a possibly precedent setting case.

As he and Waugh detailed, there’s no case law or previous examples which relate to crimes like Shepherd’s. His case involved multiple women instead of a large corporation and the crimes didn’t extend to the hundreds of thousands of dollars, as most fraud cases do.

“It seems that, from what I can see when I look at cases provided and referred to, there don’t seem to be…any case that’s really parallel to this,” Lamperson said.

Sentencing submissions did not finish on Wednesday. Shepherd will next appear in court on May 1 by video to set a date for his continued sentencing hearing, where his defence lawyer will present reasons why Shepherd should stay out of jail.

The defence is asking for a conditional sentence under house arrest, while the Crown argues for an 18-month jail term and restitution for his victims.

spencer@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit