Yellowknife (July 04/03) - A man who swindled trusting people in order to pay a cocaine dealer has been sentenced to eight months in jail, two years probation and ordered to pay full restitution to his victims.

Stephen Pond, 28, pleaded guilty to fraud, credit card theft and 21 counts of attempting to obtain something by false pretenses in territorial court last week.

All told, Pond scammed his victims out of almost $6,000.

He approached 21 people in May and told them his pregnant girlfriend was in jail for not paying her bills, said Crown counsel Scott Niblock. He said his girlfriend had his bank card and asked them for money to get her out of jail.

If a person gave him money, he returned a second and sometimes a third time, saying he needed more.

Pond approached both strangers and people he knew, including a local doctor, MLA and teacher. He promised each person who gave him money that he would pay them back hours later.

He was eventually stopped on May 18 when the RCMP intervened. A man was about to give Pond $126.

One victim, who handed over three separate amounts totalling $370, said he lent Pond the money because his story was heartbreaking, he sounded earnest and he knew the mans parents, said Niblock.

Months earlier, Pond also stole his girlfriends fathers new credit card, which he took from his mailbox in January. He got the information he needed to activate the credit card by telling the mans wife he was going to set up a cable television account. Pond bought $525 worth of cigarettes, gas and other items with the credit card.

Last November, Pond also deposited $2,500 into his bank account at a CIBC bank machine a but the envelopes he inserted into the machine were empty. Then he withdrew $2,200 in cash.

His lawyer James Mahon told the court the man ran the pregnant-girlfriend-in-jail scam because drug dealers were coercing him into paying the money he owed.

He felt compelled to do this to protect himself and his spouse... said Mahon.

Pond wept while Mahon told the court he has sought treatment for his addiction. A letter from Ponds parents said their son suffers from an eleven-year addiction.

Ponds spouse a who actually is pregnant a cried quietly in the courtroom. His pastor also attended the trial.

Mahon said the mans criminal record, which includes related offences, also stemmed from his cocaine problem.

I wish I could turn back the clock, Pond told the court. He asked to be sentenced to house arrest so he could support his spouse and child.

No way, said Judge Brian Bruser.

The judge called him a public predator who took advantage of a community known for its kindness.

Bruser said he accepts the mans remorse and gave him credit for entering an early guilty plea, but said he could not trust him to obey house arrest.

This is an excellent example of where cocaine use leads people, he said. I am not sentencing you for a drug offence, but drug abuse is at the heart of this matter.

The victims gave to you from their wallets and from their hearts, said Bruser. These are people who probably would have given you the shirts off their backs.