ORILLIA, Ont. – A crown attorney and a victim in contractor Scott Eisemann’s fraud case have grown frustrated with continued delays to court proceedings.
After more than four years before the court, in January Eisemann pled guilty to seven of the 13 counts of fraud he was charged with — only to begin the process to strike his guilty plea from the court record during his next court appearance in February.
The Brechin-based contractor allegedly collected more than $300,000 in payment from a variety of clients in the Simcoe County and Muskoka area — dating back to 2017 – and either failed to complete the projects or failed to deliver the promised work.
In February, Eisemann’s defence lawyer dropped the case “due to a breakdown in the solicitor-client relationship,” as he expressed interest in filing an application to strike his guilty plea.
In his court appearances since, Eisemann has yet to formally file the application — as he worked on retaining a new defence lawyer — though it appears that process will finally take place during his next appearance at the Orillia Courthouse on May 1.
On Tuesday, crown attorney Neil Riley noted the case has been ongoing for 53 months, and expressed concern that “very little progress has been made” on Eisemann’s application to strike the guilty plea and that it’s “been quite some time” since he initially expressed interest in doing so.
Riley also mentioned that a number of Eisemann’s alleged victims travel “quite some distance” to observe court proceedings, and that’s in the interests of both Eisemann and the alleged victims to see the case progress.
In previous appearances, Riley expressed strong opposition to Eisemann’s pending application, saying “there’s absolutely no basis” to strike the guilty plea.
Liz Saunders, who says she paid Eisemann $59,000 for work on her cottage that was never completed, said the lengthy court proceedings have caused “absolute frustration” for her.
“How long is this going to go on?” she asked OrilliaMatters. “It's just more of the same and more of the same … and delay, delay, delay.”
Saunders also questioned the value of striking the guilty plea given evidence she says the victims have of Eisemann’s alleged fraud.
“Those of us who are alleged victims are extremely frustrated by this because … we've got evidence. We've got copies of cheques that we wrote him. The Crown has copies of cheques,” she said.
“How he can say he didn't do it is completely beyond me," said Saunders. "It's not like we're going in front of a jury and that information will be withheld from the jury.”
With a two-hour appearance set on May 1 for Eisemann’s application, Saunders said she will be happy to see that part of the case finally move forward, though she is still upset by the lengthy proceedings.
“I'm pleased to see that something's happening, but I'm disappointed because it's not really advancing things,” she said.