By Sheldon Spackman

Sentencing Date To Be Set

Red Deer man pleads guilty in Ponzi schemes

Sep 7, 2021 | 3:23 PM

A local man accused of using Ponzi schemes to steal millions of dollars from investors pleaded guilty in Red Deer Court of Queen’s Bench on Tuesday.

Joshua James Tenhove, of Red Deer, was convicted on one count of committing a falsehood by deceit or other fraudulent means, unlawfully defrauding Finning Cat, Alberta Treasury Branch, and the public, of monies of a value exceeding $5,000.

The guilty plea means Tenhove’s jury trial previously scheduled for Sept. 7 did not go ahead, with four other charges against him now dropped as well.

His case returns to court Nov. 1 to set a date for sentencing. A pre-sentence report has also been ordered. In addition, the Crown consented Tuesday for Tenhove to remain on release under his current release conditions.

Tenhove was originally charged after Mounties conducted a search warrant at a home on C&E Trail north of Red Deer on December 19, 2017.

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The investigation leading to Tenhove’s arrest began in April 2016 after RCMP received reports of suspected fraud involving the purchase, sale and rental of mobile light towers by Silvertip Energy Inc.

The police investigation centred on allegations that the owner of Silvertip Energy had sold or rented light towers with the same serial number to multiple investors and had also sold or rented units that were never manufactured.

Victims of the fraud included five individual investors with estimated total losses of approximately $4 million, and four or more corporations in Canada and the United States with estimated collective losses of $6.2 million, for total losses of approximately $10.2 million.