Man charged with fraud has new lawyer

By MEDICINE HAT NEWS on July 2, 2022.

https://www.medicinehatnews.com@MedicineHatNews

A man facing three-year-old fraud charges in Medicine Hat has a new lawyer.

Chad Dale Fontaine now lives out of town and was ordered last month to appear in person or have a new attorney present in Provincial Court on Thursday to advance charges that have been before the court since 2019.

Defence attorney Greg White told the court that he filed an official designation of counsel this week and understands there is a substantial amount of disclosure that make up the Crown’s allegations against his client.

He requested the matter be adjourned to July 28 so he could begin to go through evidence related to four charges of fraud over $5,000, and single charges of fraud under $5,000, trafficking in property valued under $5,000 and causing a person to use a forged document.

Crown prosecutor Marni MacKay told the court four main sets of charges date to 2019, 2020 and 2021.

“The Crown is looking to move this forward,” she said.

Judge Michelle Christopher agreed to the adjournment date saying, “I trust that we’ll move this along as fast as we can.”