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When John Kevin Letun assumed power of attorney over his ailing uncle, he promised to act honestly, in good faith and in his relative’s best interests while he lived out his remaining years in a care home.
Instead, the Kelowna businessman used William Theodore Letun’s money as if it were his own, spending more than $700,000 on trips, vehicles and tuition fees for himself and his family.
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On Monday, Letun pleaded guilty in Edmonton’s Court of King’s Bench to a count of fraud over $5,000 for his mismanagement of his uncle’s affairs.
Dates for sentencing have yet to be set.
According to an agreed statement of facts, William Letun suffered from a degenerative condition that ultimately rendered him mentally incapacitated.
In 2009, William Letun executed an enduring power of attorney at his lawyer’s office in Edmonton, naming his nephew John Letun as his attorney in the event he was declared “mentally infirm and lacking capacity.”
William Letun’s doctor declared he met those conditions on Nov. 22, 2011, after which John Letun gained control of his uncle’s bank accounts, investments and real estate. He arranged for his uncle to be moved to a retirement facility and later a long-term care facility as his condition worsened.
John Letun, now 61, began to take money from his uncle’s accounts a month after assuming power of attorney. On Dec. 28, 2011, he used William’s chequing account to pay a utility bill for his home in Kelowna. Between late 2011 and April 2016, John Letun used his position “to engage in over 600 transactions to fraudulently enrich himself and his family to the detriment of the complainant,” the agreed facts state.
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John Letun admitted to using his uncle’s money to top up his chequing account; pay balances on his and his wife’s credit cards (which were used to cover family vacations to Hawaii); pay property taxes, utility and cellphone bills; and cover the cost of vehicles and post-secondary tuition for his adult children.
In all, John Letun admitted to defrauding his uncle of just over $700,000, court documents state.
The fraud was discovered in May 2015 when CapitalCare Dickinsfield, William Letun’s long-term care facility, tried to withdraw rent from his account and found there were insufficient funds.
Staff at the facility contacted John Letun, who made several back payments. However, he became harder to reach and the arrears continued to grow. Eventually, staff referred the case to the Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee, a provincial government agency empowered to make legal and health-care decisions for incapacitated adults.
John Letun eventually repaid about $11,000, but his uncle still owed CapitalCare $5,800 as of October 2015. The public guardian’s office applied for a court order terminating John Letun’s power of attorney the following month, which was later granted.
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The public guardian also took civil action against John Letun, with the courts awarding judgments totalling $1.7 million in favour of William Letun. Some of that money came from the sale of the accused’s Kelowna home, from which the public guardian obtained about $269,000.
In 2016, the office referred the case to Edmonton city police, who charged John Letun in late 2021.
William Letun died in Edmonton on April 20, 2019. His will — dated 2010, before he was incapcitated by illness — named John Letun as trustee of his estate. John Letun was also named as a beneficiary (10 per cent) along with William Letun’s sister (10 per cent) and John’s three children, “each of whom benefitted from the accused’s fraud,” the agreed facts state.
John Letun admitted that if it weren’t for his fraud, his uncle “would have had sufficient funds to pay for his care for the remainder of his life.”
Neither John Letun nor his lawyer responded to requests for comment. The power of attorney document lists his name as J. Kevin Letun. A social media profile for a Kelowna man of that name says he is CEO of two companies: a cannabis firm and a green energy company. Messages to those companies were not returned.
Letun had been scheduled to start a 10-day Court of King’s Bench trial on the day of his guilty plea.
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