By SUSAN ZIELINSKI
Advocate staff
WETASKIWIN — A Ponoka man who received a 10-year prison sentence for his “stupid idea” to kidnap and attempt to extort money from a local business man last year blamed depression and unemployment.
He was also using marijuana from time to time.
Larry Hugh McClelland, 50, pleaded guilty on Feb. 28 to kidnapping, extortion and unlawful use of a firearm (handgun), and was sentenced in Court of Queen’s Bench in Wetaskiwin on Wednesday.
On Sept. 15, 2011, Blair Vold, a Ponoka auctioneer, was taken by gunpoint outside his home, tied up with a hood over his face, and then driven to a Lacombe bank.
While McClelland tried to use Vold’s credit card at the bank’s ATM, Vold managed to escape from the vehicle. He bolted to a nearby gas station and called 911.
Defence Lawyer Alex Pringle said McClelland hatched a partial plan to kidnap Vold while pretending to be working in Fort McMurray in August.
McClelland was worried about his lack of savings for his age. He had been out of work for four months and was rejected for the job after failing a drug test.
He was living for a short time in a Ponoka trailer park, unbeknownst to his family.
Pringle said his client, who had worked as a welder, on pipeline and scaffolding, was using marijuana to help him sleep and has since realized his insomnia was due to depression.
His lack of employment doubled his depression, his lawyer said.
“Mr. Vold had the misfortune of being one of the few people the accused knew who had money. It was not personal. He thought Mr. Vold could supply the money he desperately needed.”
During the six days following the kidnapping, when McClelland fled Ponoka, Pringle said his client contemplated suicide.
Crown prosecutor Gordon Hatch said the kidnapping, which lasted about one and a half hours, was undoubtedly terrifying for Vold, but McClelland had no coherent plan for extorting money from Vold.
Hatch called it a “hopeless attempt.”
In an apology he read to the court, McClelland said he can’t imagine how helpless Vold felt and he hoped that some day Vold will feel safe.
“I need you to know I would never hurt you,” McClelland said.
“I accept whatever the court feels is a fair punishment.”
McClelland is married with children.
The 10-year sentence, a joint submission from the Crown and defence, was at the lower end of sentences for these crimes.
Justice B.A. Browne agreed with the submission and sentenced McClelland to nine years in prison for kidnapping, a five-year concurrent sentence for extortion, and a one-year consecutive sentence for unlawful use of a firearm.
The sentence was reduced by 245 days for time McClelland has spent in custody.
Browne said McClelland was a good man who looked after his family, and perhaps his circumstances offer an explanation for what occurred.
The one-and-half hours that Vold was terrorized with continuous threats was both mitigating and aggravating factors in sentencing, she said.
“It’s very clear that Mr. Vold suffered a great deal because of this incident.”
szielinski@www.reddeeradvocate.com