Reno contractor pleads guilty to defrauding pair - Used $125,000 bank draft to pay restitution from previous case

A former Hamilton general contractor with a criminal past of stiffing subcontractors has pleaded guilty to defrauding two Kingston men out of $125,000.

Brent Bell, 41, pleaded guilty in a Kingston court last week to fraud by conversion for telling two clients the money would be used to renovate a residential home for the disabled.

Instead, he sent the $125,000 to his criminal lawyer in Hamilton with instructions to use it to pay court-ordered restitution to subcontractors he ripped off in a large Lime Ridge Mall building project in 2000.

"This has had a devastating impact on the two victims, not just in the mere loss of money but in the sense of betrayal," said Kingston assistant Crown attorney Gerard Laarhuis yesterday.

"But regaining the money would go a long way to reducing that impact."