Lawyer gets home confinement for sale of 'Viper' TV show cars
The Associated Press

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002272164_webviper11.html

PORT COQUITLAM, B.C. — A lawyer has been given an 18-month conditional sentence with a curfew for his role in the sale of vehicles that were supposed to have been destroyed after being used in the television show "Viper."

In passing sentence on David Laronde of North Vancouver, Provincial Court Judge George Angelomatis rejected arguments from a prosecutor, Pierre Gagnon, who asked that Laronde be jailed for as long as 30 months because he abused his position as a lawyer.

Laronde was convicted in March of seven counts of fraud involving the sale of Dodge Vipers from the Paramount Pictures science fiction action series, which debuted on NBC in 1994 and switched to syndication the next season. The series was produced in Vancouver through 1999.

Investigators found that instead of being scrapped, 72 vehicles - including many judged to be unsafe after use on the set - wound up in private hands after being sold to auto dealers and the British Columbia Justice Institute, bringing nearly $500,000 (US$400,000).

Phony documents were produced so the vehicles could be registered, and bogus certificates were made to indicate they had been destroyed, authorities said.

Laronde was identified in court as the lawyer who set up a number of companies and bank accounts for the transactions to occur.

He is still working as a lawyer, but his conduct is being investigated by the disciplinary committee of the Law Society of British Columbia, similar to a U.S. bar association.

Copyright © 2005 The Seattle Times Company

__________________
...Tracy

'00 ML320 "Casper"
'92 400E "Stella"

Did he get to keep his cars?

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Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
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Section 609 MVAC Certified
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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

That show sucked...