Rick Hayhow, formerly the CFO of Imagine Adoption Agency, pled guilty in fall to fraud charges in connection with the bankruptcy of Imagine Adoption in July 2009, and he was sentenced at the end of last week: Six months' house arrest; and 18 months probation-with-a-curfew thereafter; he is also to make restitution in the amount of $15,000. He also now has a permanent criminal conviction for fraud. The amount he was convicted for was 'only' $87,000, a fraction of the total amounts pilfered from the agency's funds but which he pled guilty to and admitted to using for personal expenditures.
He was considered by the judge to be "blinded" by love for his wife, Sue Hayhow (formerly CEO of the adoption agency), and willing to do whatever she wanted in order to save their 24-year marriage. Hmm...really?? If so, then I'm hoping this will mean that when Sue Hayhow's (re)trial begins this summer, she really will be viewed as the mastermind behind the missing funds and be treated accordingly.
The judge rebuked Rick Hayhow for violating the Christian beliefs he espouses and said that he knew better than to violate the laws on the stone tablet that are foundational to Christianity. To the best of my knowledge, Hayhow did not speak to the court and so I don't believe that he has yet ever apologized to the families for the horrific time that he and his (ex) wife put us all through; the judge acknowledged that a lot of pain had been caused by Rick Hayhow's actions, but it frankly would have felt a whole lot better had we actually (finally) heard something from one of the Hayhows themselves.
When I think about the abject despair that so many families went through back in '09; when I think of the children who were left without enough food in the agency's transition home in Ethiopia and the staff who stayed to take care of them despite not being paid; when I think about the financial hardships and lost adoption dreams of many of those families; well, when I think of these things, the trial outcome for Rick Hayhow hardly seems just. The pain caused by the Hayhows is something I remember with great clarity six years later. I still have nightmares about it sometimes. In that context, the sentence is rather insulting to families.
And yet, having chosen to forgive Rick and Sue Hayhow years ago means that I can still experience peace and appreciate that at least some resolution of the legal matters has happened.
Rightly or wrongly, adoptive families affected by the mess tend to think that, as the face of the agency and the overseer of everything, Sue Hayhow should bear the brunt of the responsibility for what happened; my hope is that she might receive actual jail time should she be found guilty this summer. I'm really, really waiting to see the outcome of her trial.
There is a little peace to be had in the news. We knew when the trial began that fraud is notoriously difficult for the Crown to prove; so I wasn't expecting much following his guilty plea. And maybe his guilt can be used in a verdict against Sue Hayhow?? I'm not sure how that will work.
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Anyway, below are two articles; the second article provides more details; this first one also gives you access to a couple of short videos about the sentencing: No Jail Time for Rick Hayhow.
The Crown, defence lawyers and a judge all agreed Friday that prison was not a suitable punishment for the former general manager of Imagine Adoption.
Rick Hayhow, 50, was instead sentenced to six months of house arrest, followed by 18 months of probation.
Hayhow pleaded guilty last fall to one count of fraud in connection with his time running the Cambridge-based adoption agency, which suddenly went bankrupt in 2009 – stranding hundreds of families in the middle of the adoption process.
Documents introduced in court showed that Hayhow charged nearly $87,000 worth of personal expenses to an Imagine Adoption credit card.
He reimbursed the agency for about $15,000 of those expenses.
His ex-wife, former Imagine Adoption executive director Susan Hayhow, remains before the courts on fraud charges.
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From The Record, in Kitchener Waterloo, here is a link to the article posted in full below: No Jail for Executive's Blind Greed
No jail for executive’s ‘blind greed’ in rip-off of Cambridge-based adoption agency
Waterloo Region Record
KITCHENER — An executive who was apparently blinded by love when he ripped off a Cambridge-based adoption agency won't spend any time in jail.
Rick Hayhow, 50, was sentenced Friday to six months of house arrest and 18 months with a nightly curfew for charging $87,000 in personal expenses on an Imagine Adoption credit card.
The lenient sentence reflected weaknesses in the prosecution's case that came to light during an aborted trial of Hayhow and his ex-wife, Susan Hayhow, 48, last summer.
The former couple ran the international adoption agency before it collapsed in 2009 in a scandal involving infidelity and suspect expenses including trips, home renovations and cosmetic surgery.
About 400 families from across Canada found themselves in limbo at various stages of the costly adoption process when the non-profit Christian agency went into bankruptcy.
Rick Hayhow was in charges of finances, while Susan Hayhow was founder and executive director of the four-year-old agency, which primarily facilitated adoptions from Ethiopia.
Susan Hayhow, who has since married a former agency employee and board member, is scheduled to go on trial again in July on multiple fraud counts.
Her ex-husband, however, admitted to a single count in November in a deal involving a joint recommendation by Crown and defence lawyers for a conditional sentence instead of actual jail time.
The original charges against the former couple, laid after an 18-month police investigation, alleged about $300,000 in misspending in the 2 1/2 years before the agency failed.
Rick Hayhow acknowledged just $87,000 in personal charges — of which he had paid back $15,000 — on a corporate credit card.
His admission followed a mistrial in June after it was discovered that Rick Hayhow discussed a repayment with a clerk for the agency's accounting firm in 2008.
Involved was a $13,500 fence at the couple's Cambridge home that had been paid for with an agency cheque.
Crown prosecutor David Foulds said Friday that the revelation was a "serious blow" because it flew in the face of allegations the Hayhows kept their personal purchases secret.
A financial mess at Imagine Adoption was discovered by board members after Rick Hayhow left with a generous severance deal in the wake of his wife's affair with a married employee.
His lawyer, Christi Hunter, told Kitchener court his 24-year marriage — which until then had been "pretty wonderful" — was "crumbling" when he resorted to crime in an effort to save it.
"He seemed to be trying to please his ex-wife by living in a style they couldn't afford," she said.
Justice Patrick Flynn accepted that account, as well as submissions the fraud was out of character for a man with no prior criminal record.
"It's probably appropriate that we're here on the eve of St. Valentine's Day because my reading of these facts is that love may have made you blind," Flynn said. "Love for your co-accused blinded you and resulted in blind greed."
Backed in court by several relatives and other supporters, Hayhow declared bankruptcy and now earns $37,000 a year working for a business his parents own in London, Ont.
The couple's combined income while at the helm of Imagine Adoption was about $320,000, plus the use of two leased luxury vehicles.
Rick Hayhow chose not to address the court and declined comment outside, but he was described in character letters as a kind and caring man.
"His heart is bigger than this entire room," wrote Amanda Hayhow, one of two grown daughters who have stood by their father since the scandal broke.
Although jail time is standard for such frauds, Flynn said a conditional sentence of two years less a day is fitting in all the circumstances.
He also placed Hayhow on probation for two years and made a restitution order — similar to a judgment in a civil lawsuit — for $15,000.
"You're a religious man," Flynn told him. "You knew this behaviour was wrong. You know that you can't steal from other people.
"A lot of people were hurt by your actions. You're now paying the price for your own choices here."
It's the Sun Life office out of Thunder Bay. Andrew Morrow
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