Saskatoon angel investor Jesse Wiebe has received a conditional discharge after he pleaded guilty to charges of committing an indecent act and unlawfully entering a dwelling with intent to commit an indictable offence.
Mr. Wiebe, founder of the recently launched Canadian Startup Capital Association, filed a letter of apology with the court and letters of support last Thursday when he appeared before Provincial Court Judge Brian Huculak in Saskatoon. He agreed to adhere to several conditions during a year of probation, including performing 25 hours of community service, undergoing an addictions assessment or any outpatient treatment as directed, and living in a residence approved of by a probation officer.
If Mr. Wiebe complies with the conditions for 12 months, he will have no criminal record.
Mr. Wiebe is one of Canada’s more active angel investors, individuals who provide early funding to startups. His family’s firm, WieGrow Capital & Consulting, lists investments in 38 companies. Mr. Wiebe has also convinced many others to become angels and built programs for Startup TNT, one of Canada’s most active private investment groups, where he served as community development lead before starting the association.
He was charged in June, a month after his arrest by Saskatoon police. An officer swore before the court that Mr. Wiebe, 36, had entered an apartment in the city while naked, “with a sex toy attached to his genitals with the intent thereby to insult or offend” two occupants. He was unknown to the occupants. He was also intoxicated at the time and was released into medical care.
The Crown elected to pursue the charges on a summary basis, meaning they were regarded as less serious criminal offences. The Crown and defence filed an agreed statement of facts into the court record last week.
Mr. Wiebe did not respond to a request for comment. Last month, he said in an e-mailed statement he was treating the situation as “a deeply serious matter” and said he was addressing “significant personal and mental health challenges” for which he was receiving professional support and treatment.
In a LinkedIn post last month titled “Hurt people hurt people. And sometimes they hurt themselves,” Mr. Wiebe referred to “an incident” without sharing specifics. He called it “a moment where the way I had been coping caught up with me in a way I could no longer explain away or fold back inside the armour.” He wrote that he had decided to stay “sober for the foreseeable future” and had started seeing a therapist, meditating and exercising again.
Mr. Wiebe’s startup association is one of three national bodies aiming to influence how the government spends $750-million allocated in last fall’s budget for a new strategy “to support Canadian firms facing early growth-stage funding gaps.”
He registered as a federal lobbyist in June to advocate for changes to tax policy, funding for early-stage venture capital activation and support for emerging fund managers. He met with government officials and members of parliament on six occasions in June, according to records filed with the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada.