Sheep abduction case makes appearance in Cobourg, Ontario court UPDATED

Thursday, January 24, 2013

by SUSAN MANN

Two Ontario residents charged in connection with the removal of sheep from a quarantined farm last year made their first court appearance in Cobourg on Wednesday.

Chris Schafer, executive director of the Canadian Constitution Foundation, which is representing Linda Frances (Montana) Jones, 54, and Michael Schmidt, 58, says “it was just a first appearance and an adjournment was sought for two months.”

The next court date is March 27. The matter is being heard in the Ontario Court of Justice.

Two other people also facing charges are: Robert Pinnell, 46, and Suzanne Atkinson, 52. UPDATE Jan. 24, 2013 12:07 p.m.: Pinnell, 46, is scheduled to return to court Jan. 30 and Atkinson is to return on March 27. END OF UPDATE All four people are charged with:

• conspiracy to commit obstruction of a Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) inspector, to transport or causing to transport an animal under quarantine, and conspiracy to defraud the public of a service over $5,000 under the Criminal Code;
• obstructing a CFIA inspector, and transport or causing to transport an animal under quarantine under the Health of Animals Act and Regulations.

Jones also faces another charge of obstructing a CFIA inspector under the Health of Animals Act and Pinnell also faces a charge of attempting to obstruct justice and another for obstructing a public officer, both under the Criminal Code.

Schafer says the foundation was going seek a fresh bail hearing for both Jones and Schmidt to re-examine and quash some of the bail conditions, including the travel restrictions and the prohibition on communicating with the others who have been charged in the matter unless they’re in the presence of their lawyers, but “we put off that reopening of the bail conditions until the March 27 court date.”

So far, the foundation is only representing Jones and Schmidt “although that may change so the other co-accused may form part of representation,” he says.

Schafer says the foundation has hired Shawn Buckley of Kamloops, British Columbia, an expert in constitution/criminal matters, as the principle lawyer for the case. Schafer says he was acting as Buckley’s agent in court on Wednesday.

But “it’s very important to note the foundation is definitely still involved in the case and behind Michael and Montana.”

In a Dec. 5, 2012 press release, the CFIA says four people were charged following an investigation into the removal of 31 Shropshire sheep from a federally quarantined farm on or about April 2, 2012. The farm was suspected of being contaminated with scrapie, a fatal transmissible neurological disease of sheep and goats. The charges were laid in the Ontario Court of Justice in Cobourg on Dec. 4, 2012. BF