N.S. man zapped for faking electrical engineering credentials: ‘A sustained and involved effort undertaken over time’

A Kentville judge has sentenced a Sunken Lake, Kings County, man who pretended to be an electrical engineer to three months of house arrest and a year of probation.

Mark Blair Connors, 57, pleaded guilty to fraud under $5,000 involving two clients between Sept. 8, 2021, and July 26, 2022. He engaged in two projects for pay as an engineer, falsifying an engineer’s stamp to do the work.

“I sentence Mr. Connors to a short sharp period of custody, but find he meets the test for a conditional sentence in the community,” Kentville provincial court Judge Ronda van der Hoek said in a written decision released Monday.

Connors didn’t get the conditional discharge he requested.

‘Torn apart’

“He says his life has been torn apart for the last year and a half, he loved helping people in the community, knows he crossed a line, feels badly and quite sick about what has happened,” said the judge.

“He says the contractors were stuck and had nowhere else to go. He says there are no words to describe just how sorry he is. I accept that he is very sorry about this situation. He fears he may well lose his job if he has a criminal record. That said, I find it is contrary to the public interest that he be discharged. The need to protect the public from those who would hold themselves out as a professional is simply too pressing and important.”

Engineers Nova Scotia learned of Connors’ unauthorized use of an engineer’s seal and number in July 2022, said the decision.

It turned the investigation over to the RCMP, who reviewed plans Connors submitted to NSP between 2013 and 2022.

Credentials changed 

At first, he identified himself as a licensed electrician, said the decision.

“Between 2019 and 2022 he made submissions to Nova Scotia Power Inc. on behalf of MC Engineering Ltd. identifying himself variously as a certified systems engineer, a certified engineer, and also a professional engineer.”

In 2021 and 2022, “Connors sealed documents with an engineering stamp and signed off on plans as an engineer,” said the judge.

“In his statement to police, he explained how he created the stamp using his computer to modify a real engineering stamp and also made up a number.”

Clothing and chickens

The two projects that got him in trouble involved a new clothing outlet and a chicken barn.

Connors was paid $2,500 for the first one through his company, MC Engineering.

NSP “recommended Mr. Connors as a person whose work was familiar to them,” for the barn job, where Connors first priced the work at $2,400, but then offered to cut the bill in half if he was paid cash.

That didn’t sit right with the person organizing the project, so he called Engineers Nova Scotia when he couldn’t find Connors’ name on the organization’s list of engineers.

‘Stamp was false’

“The regulator reviewed the stamped documents and advised … that Mr. Connors’ stamp was false, and he was not an engineer,” said the decision.

Investigators spoke with NSP’s field supervisor for electrical inspectors, said the decision.

“After being advised Mr. Connors had been claiming to be an engineer for some time, police collected a resume and cover letter submitted by Mr. Connors seeking employment with the company as chief electrical inspector. In the resume, Mr. Connors claimed false credentials, purporting to have an engineering degree from Mohawk College. That college in Ontario is not an engineering degree granting institution.”

The court heard that since May 2021 most of Connors’ work involved chicken and cattle barns, and “not many engineers were working on that type of project,” said the judge.

‘Exceedingly rare’

“Nova Scotia Power Inc. relied on the regulatory body’s stamps and numbers as an assurance they were dealing with an actual engineer. Fraud of this nature is, I am told, exceedingly rare in this part of the country.”

Connors apologized for his actions and paid back some of the money he got for the two projects.

“He explained the purpose of engaging in the offence was his effort to help people because contractors were having trouble locating engineers, and he knows the ‘codes,’ so he stamped the work,” van der Hoek said.

“Mr. Connors also confirmed that he had prepared and submitted the resume containing false credentials. Mr. Connors explained that he altered a stamp and made up the number ‘to help contractors.’ Most of his work was commercial construction, he did not make a lot of money, and did not charge for some work. He also confirmed that he is not an engineer.”

‘Confuse the issue’

His lawyer asked the court to consider that one of the projects in question didn’t require the work to be signed off by an engineer.

“I think this is to confuse the issue, Mr. Connors held himself out as an engineer to obtain the work in the first place and did in fact apply the stamp and number to the documents that he was paid to submit to Nova Scotia Power Inc, thus committing the offence of fraud,” said the judge.

“In weighing the aggravating and mitigating factors, I conclude the former far outweigh the latter. This was not a momentary loss of judgment, but a sustained and involved effort undertaken over time.”