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Kingsbury sentencing delayed; probation, community service sought

Former Coquitlam mayor Jon Kingsbury appeared for sentencing in B.C. Supreme Court Friday with lawyers for both sides asking for a two-year probationary sentence and 150 hours of community service.

Former Coquitlam mayor Jon Kingsbury appeared for sentencing in B.C. Supreme Court Friday with lawyers for both sides asking for a two-year probationary sentence and 150 hours of community service.

Kingsbury, 65, was convicted earlier this month of forgery, impersonation with the intent to gain advantage and fraud over $5,000.

The convictions stem from the summer of 2008, when Kingsbury took a trailer belonging to his former business associate Jean Aussant from a Langley RV dealership, after forging Aussant's signature.

But the Vancouver court judge deferred handing down her sentence until May 12 in order to review character reference letters presented to the court on Kingsbury's behalf.

One such letter was reportedly written by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2010, congratulating Kingsbury on receiving an award for outstanding community service with the Kinsmen.

Lawyers for both Kingsbury and the Crown agreed to seek a joint sentence of two years probation and 150 hours of community service for Kingsbury.

Both sides argued that Kingsbury is of a low risk to re-offend and has no prior criminal convictions.

When asked by the judge if he had anything to say for consideration in his sentencing, Kingsbury sat slumped in the prisoner's box and replied: "Not really, no."

Kingsbury claimed throughout his trial that he had loaned Aussant $24,000 to purchase the trailer and that he was only trying to recoup some of the losses related to a soured business arrangement when he took the vehicle.

Kingsbury was elected mayor of Coquitlam in 1998 after time spent as a city councillor and last ran for office in 2006, when he lost the mayor's race to Maxine Wilson.

tcoyne@tricitynews.com