He’s an unlikely candidate for town council: Paul Hanlon’s recent criminal history includes convictions for assault, a violent home invasion and trying to sell drugs to an undercover police officer.
Now he wants to be a councillor in the rural Newfoundland town where he perpetrated some of his offences, saying he has “paid my debt to society.”
“I should have a chance to prove myself,” Hanlon said in correspondence with CBC . “It’s all about starting over.”
Hanlon, 59, who is seeking one of seven council seats in the local service district of Victoria, a small town about an hour’s drive east of St. John’s in Conception Bay North (CBN). He promises “a positive change” and is running under the slogan: “I get it done!!!”
According to a campaign photo shared in the community Facebook page, his platform focuses on replacing — not repairing — aging water and sewer infrastructure, creating groomed ATV trails connected to the East Coast Trail, and “fire break,” an issue that arose after huge portions of CBN towns were destroyed by wildfires last summer.
The election is Thursday. Hanlon has not replied to repeated National Post requests for comment.
Hanlon’s record of convictions dates back to early 2017, when he was sentenced on charges of assault with a weapon and contravention of firearms storage regulations stemming from a May 2015 incident in which he struck a woman with a rock and also damaged a vehicle she was travelling in, according to reports by SaltWire Network at the time. A gun was recovered during the police investigation.
Hanlon was released while awaiting trial, but was arrested in March 2016 after being seen in a local bar with two other men, a breach of release conditions prohibiting him from entering an establishment that serves alcohol.
Two months later, following a 30-day intermittent sentence, Hanlon and another man were arrested after an investigation into a March 2015 incident in which a man was shot with a sawed-off shotgun in Carbonear, another CBN town.
At sentencing for the earlier crime in January 2017, the judge in the case credited him with time served awaiting trial and added two years of probation, a 10-year firearms prohibition and an order to submit DNA for entry into a database, as reported by SaltWire Network .
It’s not immediately clear what sentence Hanlon received for the second incident, which involved two charges of assault with a weapon and single count charges of unauthorized possession of a firearm, unsafe storage of a firearm and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose.
Less than nine months after his 2017 sentencing, Hanlon was arrested again for his part in a Victoria home invasion.
He and a co-accused, wearing masks and armed with baseball bats, kicked down the door of a home, entered the living room and proceeded to beat the two occupants until the victims managed to overtake them, as reported by the St. John’s Telegram at the time and court documents .
They were arrested at the local hospital while being treated for injuries they suffered during the attack. During the altercation, the attackers’ masks fell off and the RCMP were able to collect DNA evidence connecting them to both men.
Hanlon was again released while awaiting trial, only to be back in custody within about 10 months.
In late June, as part of an unrelated investigation, an undercover RCMP officer approached Hanlon, who invited the officer inside a vehicle to show him marijuana that he kept in his vehicle so police couldn’t prove it was his. He also took the opportunity to show the officer a sawed-off .22 calibre rifle.
Police executed a search warrant for the vehicle and filed several firearm-related charges against Hanlon.
Hanlon originally pleaded not guilty, but changed his mind just before trial, and was handed a seven-year sentence on 10 charges in February 2020. But having been denied bail and left to wait for trial on remand, Hanlon was given credit at an enhanced rate by the judge, leaving him with just over two years to serve, according to the Telegram.
It’s not immediately clear when he was released.
Meanwhile, according to the provincial court docket , Hanlon is due back in provincial court on May 20 — six days after the byelection — on charges of failing to comply with an undertaking as part of his release.
The byelection itself is unusual.
In December, provincial officials, in an unprecedented act, dismissed the entirety of the newly elected council because it was unable to function effectively. An administrator was appointed to oversee the municipality of roughly 1,700.
As reported by CBC at the time, the council were repeatedly privately and publicly at odds with one another. Things came to a head when five of the six councillors tried to have the mayor removed for allegedly harassing, bullying and intimidating other councillors and violations of the code of conduct.
Four of the six who were dismissed are seeking re-election, which is permitted under the province’s Municipal Elections Act.
The legislation also doesn’t prohibit people with past criminal convictions from seeking public office.
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