Joseph Emond, 64, pled guilty on Wednesday, Aug. 27, to Criminal Harassment and Breach of Release Conditions. He was given a three-year suspended sentence with conditions under supervision.
Last year Emond's behaviour led to various community members contacting RCMP. He had been parking his vehicle at the time school would let out in a neighbouring community. Members began attending the area at this time of day due to complaints of a suspicious person. Noting the odd behaviour they spoke with him about the complaints and laid charges on Nov. 20, 2013.
It was later reported in January 2014 that he had been attempting to discern the names of two youth. It was discovered that one of the youth happened to be a student at the school he had been sitting outside of in November. These questionable behaviours led to the admission of guilt to the Criminal Harassment charge.
Emond's lawyer, who spoke on his behalf, stressed that Emond had no ill intent and had no intentions of harassing anyone, but acknowledged that his behaviour was construed as being threatening and that Emond has taken responsibility for the actions through pleading guilty to this charge.
Following the charges laid in November, Emond had been released on conditions which included the prohibition of using an external hard drive. One was discovered in his possession after his release. It showed someone had accessed and modified files on it resulting in a Breach of Release Conditions. Though Emond also pled guilty to this, his lawyer explained he had been closing his business down at the time and it may have been related to this, although he has no memory of accessing it during this time.
