Dave and Cathie Tuck walked out of a Peterborough courtroom Monday (June 25) after a five-month trial, fully vindicated of a fraud charge laid against them in connection with their management of the former Peterborough Huskies special needs hockey organization.
In her acquittal directive, Justice Jennifer Broderick said she found no evidence to convict the Tucks on the fraud over $5,000 charge laid against them in November 2016.
kawarthaNOW contacted the Tucks shortly after the ruling for an exclusive interview.
“We told the truth and the truth came out,” says Dave Tuck, adding the verdict was “quite emotional and overwhelming and exciting all rolled up into one.”
“I had full confidence from the get-go that neither of us had done anything wrong. We stood by that. Our testimonies and what the judge said today (Monday) proved we didn’t lie in court. We didn’t lie to anyone in the organization. We didn’t lie to anybody. We were forthcoming with information, we were open, and the judge picked up on that.”
But while the acquittal has left both delighted, there are scars that will take a long time to heal — if they do at all.
“I’ve got two boys and it was part of their life too and that got taken away from them,” says Dave.
“What (the accusation) did was end that life for us. It put what we had left of our life on hold for 20 months. We had people threatening us, calling us names, pointing at us. Our lawyer, Brad Allison, instructed us to keep our heads down and we will get through this and our day will come. Today is that day.”
Dave and Cathie founded the Peterborough Huskies in 2013 as a way to give people of all ages with disabilities the opportunity to participate in a group sport. They were widely heralded for doing so and received much community support.
That all changed after a police probe into alleged misuse of donated money, and the couple were accused of withdrawing thousands of donated dollars for their own personal use.
Within days of the accusations, others involved with or supporting the Peterborough Huskies broke all ties with the founders. A new organization with a new board was established, and the Peterborough Huskies was rebranded as The Electric City Maroon and White.
“We really need to find out why all the families with the Peterborough Huskies just stopped talking to us,” he says. “They didn’t contact us or say anything either way. We don’t know if they were told not to contact us or if (they decided not to) on their own.”
“The only stipulation after the charge was laid was that we couldn’t touch third-party money,” Dave recalls. “We were not ordered not to run the operation. It was taken from us overnight.”
Dave doubts he and Cathie can ever return to the special needs hockey realm in the aftermath of their ordeal.
“I knew as soon as we were arrested it was done. The community would (no longer) support it, regardless of whether we were found innocent or guilty.”
Cathie adds it was the court of public opinion where the Tucks were judged and, even with the acquittal of the charges against them, people will continue to harbour doubts about their innocence.
“I think it’s going to take a long time for some people to change their view,” Cathie says. “A picture was painted of us. People judge base on what they read, not on who you actually are.”
“It’s sad because it was our life. It wasn’t something we did to get noticed. We have special needs kids of our own and we saw the challenges they had getting into a mainstream organization to play sports. There was so much more to the Huskies than sports.”
Much more critical of the Tucks’ ordeal is Dave’s brother Ken Tuck. He took to Facebook shortly after the verdict to express his anger over “the hell they went through based on an anonymous letter sent to Peterborough Police.”
“Dave and Cathie lost all of their life savings over this ordeal,” Ken writes. “They had little to begin with and less than little now. This city lost an amazingly positive resource to help special needs kids have a good life and a community. Their sons also went through hell and had to deal with small minded people leveling angst against them for something they were not guilty of.
“My sister, mother and I sat in the courtroom in tears, listening to the judge exonerate Dave and Cathie. Now I feel very strongly that they need the support of the community they supported with everything they had.”
This story will be updated as more details on the ruling become available.
