Former Chatham-Kent police officer Robert Mugridge will be spending his weekends in jail for the next little while after pleading guilty to fraud.
Mugridge appeared in court Monday for a sentencing decision after previously pleading guilty to defrauding over 40 people of almost $250,000. He was given the opportunity to speak before the decision was read.
“I’m sorry for what has happened,” said Mugridge. “It’s my intention to pay everyone back.”
The judge used a number of mitigating and aggravating circumstances when determining the sentence, including that Mugridge was not likely to re-offend and that the community was not in danger. The judge acknowledged both the letter of remorse submitted by Mugridge and a letter of support submitted by one of Mugridge’s victims.
However, it was also noted that Mugridge took advantage of his position as a police officer, including nine occasions where he borrowed money while in uniform. Since the offences were spread over five years, the judge said Mugridge’s behaviour was not a momentary lapse in judgement.
Mugridge has been sentenced to serve out a 90-day sentence on weekends in institutional incarceration. It will take 45 weeks for that sentence to be served.
The sentence is being allowed to be served intermittently so that Mugridge can remain employed. He is currently working as a temporary production labourer. Without this employment, repayment would be unlikely. He has been allowed 12 years to repay the more than $160,000 still owing to his victims.
Mugridge will also be bound by probation for three years and has been ordered to complete 11 community service hours per month for 18 months.
He was also ordered to provide a DNA sample to be held on file.