Crown drops two of three art fraud charges

Gyta Eeseemailee, a well-known Nunavut artist whose work has been included in past collections produced by the celebrated Pangnirtung Print Shop, received a nine-month conditional sentence, was ordered to pay a $3,600 fine and was ordered to perform 200 hours of community work after he pleaded guilty to possession of property obtained by crime.

Eeseemailee, 47, was convicted of illegally possessing art prints worth more than $5,000.

The charges arose after an art-fraud scandal involving Iqaluit’s Nunavut Arctic College campus was unearthed. Numerous art works were discovered to have been stolen from the college’s arts and crafts program, and then sold by someone who falsely claimed to have produced them.

The Crown stayed one count of fraud and one count of forging a trademark laid against Eeseemailee in August.

Eeseemailee will spend the first three months of his sentence under house arrest. He will spend the next 18 months on probation.

While under house arrest, Eeseemailee may only leave his residence for three hours a day, between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.

For the rest of his sentence, Eeseemailee must abstain from alcohol or any other intoxicating substance, not consume alcohol in any restaurant or lounge, perform the prescribed amount of community work, and report regularly to a probation officer.