Former cop and his wife sentenced for role in harassment of Calgary millionaire's ex
Client: Steve Walton, Heather Walton
Charge: Bribery, Harassment
Prosecution: Requested 4-5 years jail Steve Walton, 2 years jail Heather Walton
Defence: Requested 30 months jail for Steve Walton, conditional sentence for Heather Walton
Sentence: 3 years Steve Walton, house arrest and community service Heather Walton
Former Calgary police detective Steve Walton is going to prison for his role in a corruption case involving the stalking of a millionaire’s ex-girlfriend.
But Walton’s wife, Heather, was spared a similar fate Wednesday, when a Court of Queen’s Bench judge ruled a jail term was not needed for the city woman.
Justice Glen Poelman sentenced Steve Walton to three years in a federal jail and handed his wife a conditional sentence of 15 months to be served in the community under 24-hour house arrest.
She must also perform 175 hours of community service as part of her sentence, the judge said.
Both had been convicted of bribery for paying current members of the Calgary Police Service for information from service computer data systems.
Steve Walton was also convicted of criminal harassment for hiring officers to conduct surveillance on Akele Taylor on behalf of her estranged boyfriend, wealthy Calgary businessman Ken Carter, during a custody dispute over their child.
Carter is also facing sentencing for his role in the stalking case, but he remains in Russia with an undisclosed medical condition which his lawyer says prevents him from flying.
Carter flew to Russia, where his current wife has family, last June ahead of the originally scheduled sentencing hearing and failed to return when defence counsel Gavin Wolch said he became too ill to travel.
Poelman had agreed to delay sentencing the Waltons until it was clearer when Carter might return, but after several adjournments he decided to hand out their punishments separately.
Crown prosecutor Katherine Love had sought four- to five-year sentences for both Steve Walton and Carter, who orchestrated months of stalking of Taylor by hiring the Waltons, working as unlicenced private detectives to conduct surveillance.
The Waltons, in turn, employed CPS members to follow Taylor.
During sentencing submissions last May, Love argued severe sentences for the two men were warranted.
She also said a two-year prison term was justified for Heather Walton’s role.
Love said significant punishments were warranted because of the impact the crimes have had on public confidence in the police department.
“The circumstances here, boiled down to its core, involves a man with immense resources employing a retired CPS detective to execute an organized and protracted campaign of harassment against a former domestic partner,” Love told Poelman.
“That retired police officer … and his wife, she to a lesser extent, then in turn hired other experienced police officers to facilitate the offence.
“A just and proper sentence must be one that demonstrates to the public that using police officers to affect any criminal enterprise and bribing them to do so will be given the most serious consideration by our courts.”
Lawyer Alain Hepner had sought a conditional sentence for Heather Walton and no more than 30 months jail for her husband.
Source: Calgary Herald