Two fourth-year university students escaped earning criminal records when they pleaded guilty to uttering a forged document in Red Deer court on Wednesday.
Wei Chen Wang, 23, and Stephen Yin Onn Chung, 25, both of Calgary, received conditional discharges after pleading guilty to uttering a forged document.
Both University of Calgary students, they had been charged with uttering or using counterfeit money and Wang had an additional charge of possessing counterfeit money, which was withdrawn.
Crown prosecutor Murray McPherson told Judge John Holmes that the men tried to pay for drinks at a downtown night club using a poorly forged $100 bill on June 26.
“It was an act of stupidity. If they are associated with other people” they should cease that, McPherson said.
Wang gave the bogus bill to Chung to buy the drinks, court heard.
The conditional sentence is for a year. If both abide by its conditions, which includes taking counselling, they will not acquire a criminal record.
Both must also perform 30 hours of community service and each pay a $50 surcharge.
Holmes said the joint submission by the defence and Crown was reasonable.
Wang was defended by high-profile Winnipeg lawyer Hersh Wolch, who said his client “got involved in a silly way.”
Wolch said Wang sold a set of headphones to a person who paid for them with the bogus bill.
“It was a bad forgery,” said Wolch, who gained high-profile attention in 1997 when his client, David Milgaard, was cleared by DNA evidence after serving 23 years in prison for the murder of Gail Miller, a Saskatoon nursing aide found murdered in 1969.
jwilson@www.reddeeradvocate.com