Léo Desbiens-Duquette sentenced to 14 months for elderly fraud

Léo Desbiens-Duquette has been sentenced to 14 months in prison by the Quebec Court in Rimouski for defrauding eight elderly individuals of a total of $32,370. The crimes were carried out over a period of just three days.

According to Judge Éric Morin, the fraud involved a scheme where individuals posing as National Bank employees contacted seniors to claim their accounts were compromised. Victims were instructed to place their bank cards and PINs in their mailboxes for a purported representative to collect. Desbiens-Duquette was responsible for retrieving these cards, which were then used to make withdrawals or purchase prepaid cards.

While the prosecution sought a sentence of two years in detention followed by probation, the defense argued for 16 months of community detention. The judge noted that Desbiens-Duquette minimized his role in the scheme and that the risk of recidivism remained a concern.