Sentencing hearing postponed for man found guilty of attempting to extort Eastern Health

A St. John’s man found guilty of extorting Eastern Health who was set to be sentenced for his crime on Tuesday, Aug. 9, had his hearing put over when he told the court he had a new lawyer.

Trevor Rodney Curtis was originally scheduled to be sentenced in June, but that hearing was rescheduled when he fired his previous lawyer.

In court on Tuesday, Curtis told the judge he had been in contact with another legal aid lawyer recently and wanted the hearing set over until he could meet with his newly appointed counsel.

Justice Kate O’brien set the matter over until Aug. 15 at 9:30 a.m. for a status hearing, when a new sentencing date is expected to be set.

Curtis, who was found guilty of attempting to extort the health authority in April, had found an unencrypted USB drive in the Health Sciences Centre parking lot containing the personal information of a number of Eastern Health patients. He posted some of the information on social media and contacted employees of Eastern Health, saying more would be released if he wasn’t compensated for what he characterized as past mistreatment.

Curtis said in a statement to police he had lost his business and children due to the health authority’s alleged violation of his rights.

He told police it wasn’t his fault if “some idiot” had lost the USB drive, which he described at trial as leverage against Eastern Health.