Former golf pro who scammed golfers for $40K jailed for missing house arrest curfew check

Photo: RCMP

Christian Power

A disgraced Kamloops golf pro who avoided prison after bilking golfers out of more than $40,000 was sent to jail on Tuesday when a judge refused to accept his story about missing a house arrest curfew check.

Chris Power, 35, was ordered to spend 10 days behind bars for breaching the terms of his house arrest.

Power was sentenced in October to 18 months of house arrest after pleading guilty to a dozen fraud-related charges stemming from a scam he ran while working as head pro at Rivershore Golf Links.

He was also ordered to repay $40,664 to the golf course to cover the losses it incurred due to his schemes.

Court heard Power was not home when his probation officer phoned to check in on Jan. 15.

Power claimed he slept through the call. He said he was asleep in his bedroom at the time.

“I am a deep sleeper, so I did not hear my mom at all trying to wake me up,” he said.

“Even if someone did knock on the door, I can’t hear it unless they’re banging it or kicking it very hard.”

Power called his mother to testify in his defence, but her story and his did not line up. She said her son was asleep on the couch when the phone rang, and she described trying emphatically to wake him.

Power’s probation officer also took the stand, offering a third version of events.

Kamloops provincial court Judge Ray Phillips chose to believe the probation officer.

“There is an internal inconsistency with respect to the Powers’ evidence,” he said.

“It makes it difficult to believe. … It seems that if I was to accept that evidence, that would then place [the probation officer] in a position where she is filing a false report or making false allegations, which I do not believe to have happened.”

Court has previously heard Power’s scheme at Rivershore was not a sophisticated one. He would offer memberships or equipment for sale and pocket the cash rather than pay his employer.

The value of the transactions ranged from $600 to more than $7,300, court heard. Rivershore honoured all purchases, even when Power did not.

Power previously told court he committed the offences to pay off debts he incurred gambling on sports.