The Court of Appeal recently released a decision dismissing appeals against conviction of a former Toronto police officer and a former employee of the Public Guardian and Trustee (“PGT”) who fabricated the last will and testament of Heinz Siegfried Sommerfeld to benefit the police officer.
In 2023, a police officer, Robert Konashewych, and a PGT employee, Adellene Balgobin, were convicted of defrauding the estate of Mr. Sommerfeld, who was an elderly man suffering from dementia. Both Mr. Konashewych and Ms. Balgobin received a global seven-year prison sentence. Ms. Balgobin was also convicted of breach of trust by a public officer in connection with the duties of her office at the PGT and received a concurrent five-year sentence. Emily Hubling blogged on this case back in 2023 when it first hit the news. Mr. Konashewych and Ms. Balgobin appealed the decision.
While this blog will not go into the details of the criminal law aspects of this case, it will recap the estate-related aspects that led to the imprisonment of both appellants. The decision, which can be found here, goes into further detail about the applicable criminal law principles and the grounds for appeal, if the reader is interested. Ultimately, the Court granted the appellants leave to appeal their sentences but dismissed the sentence appeals.
Mr. Sommerfeld died without a Will in 2017. He died with no known family apart from his half-brother who he had not seen in many years. The PGT was the guardian of Mr. Sommerfeld’s property from 2008 until his death. Ms. Balgobin was assisting with managing Mr. Sommerfeld’s affairs near the end of his life. Once Ms. Balgobin learned that Mr. Sommerfeld had died, she requested and obtained access to Mr. Sommerfeld’s personal identification documents, which included signatures that initialized part of his full name, which she testified was part of the routine procedure upon a client’s death.
A mere 6 days after Ms. Balgobin learned of Mr. Sommerfeld’s death, Mr. Konashewych came forward (by leaving a voicemail for Ms. Balgobin) claiming that he possessed a Will that named him as the estate trustee and sole beneficiary of Mr. Sommerfeld’s estate. At the time that Mr. Konashewych came forward, he and Ms. Balgobin were in a romantic relationship (which she failed to disclose). The decision goes into further detail about the details of the evidence put forward to show that the two of them were in a relationship.
Despite what the Court called “an obvious conflict” and even despite Ms. Balgobin testifying that she was surprised by this unlikely coincidence, she continued to be involved in the file. The PGT received a copy of the purported Will on July 12, 2017.
In April 2018, Mr. Konashewych’s lawyer filed an application for probate with Mr. Konashewych’s purported Will. The application was denied because the Court required an affidavit from a third party attesting to the signature of Mr. Sommerfeld on the Will. This is where Ms. Balgobin stepped in. While it was Mr. Konashewych who initially fabricated the Will, Ms. Balgobin assisted him by swearing an affidavit attesting to the authenticity of Mr. Sommerfeld’s signature on the Will. In support of his probate application, Mr. Konashewych swore in an affidavit that he attempted to locate the two witnesses to the will, including by using police databases, but could not find them. As it turns out, the two people who apparently witnessed the execution of the Will did not exist.
With the help of these supporting affidavits, Mr. Konashewych obtained probate on July 4, 2018 and the value of the estate, which was $834,351.55, was eventually transferred into Mr. Konashewych’s bank account.
Many of you are likely familiar the famous Scooby-Doo adage “I would have gotten away with it too if it weren’t for those meddling kids”. Well, in this case, Mr. Konashewych and Ms. Balgobin’s plan was working until Mr. Konashewych’s ex-girlfriend, Ms. Dixon (who is the “meddling kid” in this scenario), became suspicious of Mr. Konashewych.
In October 2017, while Ms. Dixon and Mr. Konashewych were still together, Ms. Dixon heard through the grapevine that Mr. Konashewych was having an affair. Mr. Konashewych denied that he was having an affair, but Ms. Dixon then searched his phone where she found Ms. Balgobin’s contact information. Ms. Dixon and Mr. Konashewych together then visited the PGT to confront Ms. Balgobin, but she refused to come out to the lobby to meet them. Ms. Dixon then emailed Ms. Balgobin expressing shock about the rumour of an affair, but Ms. Balgobin responded that she had the wrong person.
Ultimately, in November 2018, Mr. Konashewych and Ms. Dixon separated and Mr. Konashewych moved out of the penthouse he shared with Ms. Dixon. Although Mr. Konashewych had moved out, his mail continued to be delivered to the address of the shared penthouse, where Ms. Dixon still lived. On December 26, 2018, Ms. Dixon inadvertently opened a letter from a bank containing a RIF statement addressed to Mr. Konashewych in connection with Mr. Sommerfeld’s estate. Mr. Konashewych told Ms. Dixon that the letter must have been sent to him in error.
On January 25, 2019, Ms. Dixon opened another envelope addressed to the “Estate of Heinz Siegfried Sommerfeld c/o Robert Konashewych”, this time from a law firm, which contained a letter that sought payment of outstanding fees for the “Sommerfeld estate matter” and attached a statement of account (which also referred to Ms. Balgobin).
Ms. Dixon’s family law lawyer, who was assisting her with the separation, then obtained the Superior Court file related to Mr. Sommerfeld’s estate. This is how Ms. Dixon learned that Mr. Konashewych had inherited a significant amount of money from Mr. Sommerfeld’s estate.
On March 6, 2019, Ms. Dixon reported her suspicions to the Toronto Police Service. Ms. Dixon provided the police with copies of Mr. Konashewych’s opened mail, personal belongings found in a shared storage locker, and parts of Mr. Sommerfeld’s estate file obtained from the court office. Mr. Konashewych and Ms. Balgobin were then arrested in December 2019 in connection with the fraudulent Will.
Mr. Konashewych’s and Ms. Balgobin’s convictions remain upheld and it is yet to be seen whether the length of their sentences will be reduced or remain the same.
