Judge ends con artist’s ‘career’
By Frank Armstrong
Local News - Tuesday, July 19, 2005 @ 07:00
A former city high school football star turned con artist was sentenced to two
years in prison and three months’ probation yesterday after pleading guilty to
19 charges related to his operation of a phoney medical clinic and paralegal
practice.
Brian Atkinson, 42, pleaded guilty in a Kingston courtroom to defrauding at
least 20 people of more than $30,000, possession of crack cocaine, assaulting a
17-year-old girl with a hypodermic needle and sexually assaulting her.
Atkinson also pleaded guilty to three counts of breaching his bail conditions,
including flagrantly disobeying a judge’s orders while knowing he was being
watched by The Whig-Standard.
“What were you thinking?” Justice Geoff Griffin asked Atkinson, who stood
behind the plexiglass of the prisoners box.
Atkinson’s charges stem from his operation of two Kingston businesses.
One was a Princess Street medical clinic he ran in 2002, where he was treating
patients with mental and physical problems from anorexia and panic attacks to
irritable bowels, HIV and infertility. The other business was a paralegal
practice on Division Street, which he ran in 2004.
The Frontenac Secondary School and Queen’s University sociology graduate has
claimed he has a master’s degree, a PhD, and has been a physician,
psychologist, minister, modeling agent and stock broker.
Atkinson, who served 29 months in a U.S. prison after being convicted in 1999 of
credit card fraud before being deported to Canada, also claimed to have acted as
a Hollywood therapist for celebrities such as O.J. Simpson.
While running the Kingston medical clinic, the Canadian Institute for Stress
and Anxiety, he sexually assaulted a 17-year-old girl and injected a mysterious
liquid into her, which he claimed was a flu vaccination. The injection didn’t
appear to hurt the young woman, but Atkinson refused even yesterday to tell
Griffin what it was.
When he was arrested in 2003 for the assault charges, police found crack cocaine
in his sock.
Please see JUDGE, Page 8
In December 2004, Atkinson was arrested again after a city bank notified
Kingston Police that a man was trying to tap the large sum of money in a local
woman’s bank account by using it to set up a trust fund that he alone would
control.
Atkinson was making the arrangements under his company, Lincoln Legal Services.
The court heard yesterday that he took money from people who wanted help
navigating small claims court, trust fund law, separation agreements, childhood
custody disputes and real estate deals, yet gave them nothing in return.
Wearing a dark suit, white shirt and tie, and sporting a thick moustache and
grey hair, Atkinson appeared older than in previous court appearances.
He sat or stood still and expressionless during most of the hearing, his hands
clasped in front of him, as he listened to an agreed statement of facts
surrounding his offences read out by Crown attorney Gerard Laarhuis.
Atkinson’s only emotional display came after apologizing to his victims, just
before Griffin sentenced him near the end of the three-hour hearing.
“I didn’t intend to hurt people; it wasn’t my intention at all,” he said
in a low voice, then sniffed, as if holding back tears.
Griffin didn’t show any sympathy for the man, whom Laarhuis had earlier called
a “shyster,” “huckster,” and “snake-oil salesman.”
“The truth is the man is a liar and he will lie whenever he needs to lie and
the question is ... how is it going to come to an end?” the judge said and
lowered his head. “The answer to that is unknown.”
As well as the two-year sentence, Atkinson must follow a lengthy set of
conditions over the three years of his parole, which includes a prohibition from
engaging in any activity providing medical or legal services.
He also can’t receive any trust fund money unless approved by his parole
officer, he can’t communicate with any of the people he defrauded and he must
stay away from positions of trust with women under the age of 18, except with
the permission of his parole officer.
Police have seized more than $12,000 that was in Atkinson’s bank account and a
Superior Court will order him to use the money to repay his victims.
Griffin said the fact that Atkinson pleaded guilty was helpful when
he considered the sentence because
a trial would have been lengthy and would have inconvenienced many people,
especially Atkinson’s victims.
Nonetheless, the judge said he doesn’t believe Atkinson has seen the error of
his ways because of his refusal to reveal what was in the hypodermic needle he
used on the 17-year-old.
“His decision not to tell us ... obviously I treat it as a sign that there is
no change of heart despite six-and-a-half months in Quinte Detention Centre,”
he said.
Laarhuis told the court that Atkinson has spent much of that time locked up in
segregation for his own safety.
Atkinson’s lawyer, Michael Mandelcorn, urged leniency for his client not only
because of the guilty plea, but because of his offer to turn his savings over to
his victims and because he has already suffered during his six-and-a-half months
in jail and from exposure in the local news media.
The Whig-Standard revealed Atkinson’s questionable qualifications in January
2003, when Kingston Police searched his Princess Street medical clinic.
Griffin said the newspaper should be commended for exposing Atkinson to the
public and doggedly following his case.
“Quite frankly, we owe The Whig-Standard for saving those people,” he said.
“I’m just glad he decided to go into legal services – if he’d stuck to
medical, he might have irreparably harmed somebody, even killed them,” he
said, referring to the fake flu inoculation.
When Griffin asked Atkinson what type of treatment he would like to receive in
prison, Atkinson said he might like drug treatment.
“You don’t see the benefit of any psychiatric treatment?” the judge asked.
“No, your honour,” Atkinson replied, rocking forward on the balls of his
feet.
Justice Griffin shook his head and finished passing his sentence.
“Don’t live the rest of your life like this,” he said before closing the
court. “Please try to change.”
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