Searching for Sinclair money

Almost a decade ago a former Belleville businessman was ordered to pay nearly a million dollars to Hastings County in fines.

There is still no money in sight.

Jim Sinclair bought the former Bakelite property at 621 Dundas Street East in 2003, with plans to build a marina and residential development.

He ended up being convicted on environmental charges in January of 2008 and doing time in jail.

It involved work on the property which was contaminated by Bakelite Thermosets beginning in the 1940s through to the 1980s, and as a result contaminated Bay of Quinte water.

Sinclair never paid the fine that was also part of the conviction, and moved to Detroit where he got in trouble with the law again. ****see below

In a recent interview, Hastings County CEO Jim Pine told Quinte News the search continues for the $865,975 fine owed, and the county is working with the Ontario Ministry of the Environment.

There is a warrant out for Sinclair’s arrest.

The provincial offences court money is shared among Hastings County, Belleville and Quinte West.

That was nine years ago, but Pine says the search for the money is still worth it.

“We’ll continue to look to see if there’s any assets anyplace else, but so far we’ve been unsuccessful.”

Pine says there will come a time when it won’t be worth it, “but we’re not there yet.”

Quinte News asked if there was a chance to use the legal system in the United State to get the money.

Pine answered, “We could go through the American legal system and we’ve been looking at that to try and determine whether there are any assets there. It’s a fairly complex business to do that as I understand it from our lawyers and we have to use solicitors in the States to do that. When we did depose him we did depose him in…Detroit. We retained a solicitor there…to do the deposition there. But, we haven’t found anything (Sinclair holdings) in the States.”

Jim Sinclair (Photo: Twitter)

**** Detroit April, 2016

A former Belleville businessman, who pleaded “no contest” to 10 charges earlier this year, has now been sentenced in a Detroit, Michigan court.

Jim Sinclair, the former owner of the Bakelite property in Belleville, originally faced 23 charges, including one charge of running a “chop shop” involving the selling of parts of stolen cars.

When he appeared in Detroit court earlier this year he pleaded “no contest” to 10 counts of receiving and concealing stolen property.

In Wayne County Circuit court Monday (2016), Judge Thomas Cameron handed Sinclair a sentence of one-year probation, and Sinclair paid a $20,000 “restitution.”

Hastings County has been awaiting completion of the Detroit case before taking action on nearly $700,000 worth of provincial offences fines owed here by Sinclair.

Hastings County intends to re-double its efforts to collect the near-million dollars in outstanding fines.

Hastings County CAO Jim Pine says there will be a renewed effort to collect the money Sinclair has owed in provincial fines here for the past 8 years.

Pine says there’s a list of outstanding POA fines.

In 2008, Sinclair, the owner of the Bakelite property in Belleville’s east end at the time, was sentenced to 10 months in jail on 15 environmental charges related to excavations on the contaminated site and releasing toxins into the Bay of Quinte.

He served about four month in jail.

Wayne County authorities say there is no restriction on Sinclair leaving the United States during his probation