A victim caught up in a puppy fraud case is speaking out about how long the case took to go through the courts and how disappointed he is with the lenient punishment given to the accused.
Corby Knight, 35, of Chatham Township had his fraud charges withdrawn in Chatham court on Tuesday, 3.5 years after his arrest.
The charges were dropped after he completed a Direct Accountability Program. The Direct Accountability Program provides adults charged with mostly minor first-time criminal offences with an alternative to the formal court process.
Individuals charged are still held accountable for their actions by completing community-based sanctions, such as community service, attending workshops or programs, issuing a letter of apology and/or reflection, or paying restitution.
One of the victims -- a man from London, who doesn't want to be publicly identified -- told CK News Today that the enormous amount of time and resources that the case took up is ridiculous, adding justice was not served even though he got his deposit back.
The victim said this ordeal was embarrassing and he even felt threatened at times.
"When I was trying to find the other victims of the fraud, [Knight] started stalking us online and trying to get a hold of us and pretending to be one of the victims and then when I figured out that it was him, he'd make threats against me," said the victim.
Knight was accused of fraud in November 2020 after allegedly taking deposits for six Yorkie puppies for sale on Kijiji for $800 each in May.
A woman, who was co-accused with Knight, allegedly contacted the people who put the deposits down to report that the puppies had been stolen in June, but at that time no deposits were returned.
Investigators said Knight and his co-accused received $3,800 from nine victims in the fraud case.
Police reported in June 2020 that they received a report of six puppies being stolen from a residence on Brook Line in Chatham-Kent, but did not have any suspects at that time.
The victim who spoke to CK News Today said he was surprised other charges weren't laid.
"I'm surprised he wasn't charged with filing a false police report. I thought that would have been the major thing that they would have been after. He called the police and wasted their time and had them out to his place," he said.
Knight's defence lawyer Ken Marley told CK News Today the Crown offered Knight the Direct Accountability Program a year ago to avoid the expense of a trial because the witnesses were from all over the province and would have had to be brought to Chatham. Marley noted it took Knight a year and 17 court appearances to complete the Direct Accountability Program.