THUNDER BAY - Crown attorney, Peter Keen, questioned former Thunder Bay mayor Keith Hobbs, why, if he had witnessed and suspected the alleged extortion victim of inappropriate behaviour and actions, he continued to associate with him.
“You continue to go back to him for advice,” Keen said. “I would suggest that is absurd.”
“I wouldn’t say it was absurd,” Hobbs responded, then referencing that the victim told him about a potential $2 million from a possible business matter between them.
“Didn’t it occur to you, it might be a bad idea to continue to see him?” Keen asked later.
“I was concerned about Mary,” Hobbs said. “That was my main concern.”
Keith Hobbs was cross-examined by Keen Wednesday afternoon following his testimony that morning in his own defense as part of evidence called by counsel, Brian Greenspan.
Hobbs, along with his wife Marisa, and local resident, Mary Voss are on trial for extortion for allegedly trying to coerce the victim into purchasing a house for Voss with threats of going to police with incriminating evidence.
Keen asked about Hobbs' reaction when he first learned he was under investigation for extortion in early 2017. Hobbs said he thought it was a joke, again saying he would be willing to take a polygraph test.
“It just became something that was very silly, you didn’t take it seriously,” Keen said.
“That is correct,” Hobbs said.
That perception changed when Hobbs made a videotaped statement with Det. Insp. Martin Graham of the Ontario Provincial Police in March 2017, which was combative at times. Hobbs said he was very upset and he sent Graham a handwritten statement following the interview.
“I was concerned there was a lot of things that didn’t get out,” he said. “A lot of questions he didn’t ask me and didn’t volunteer me.”
“I felt he didn’t have all the facts before accusing me,” Hobbs continued. “He said he hadn’t read text messages, which I found astounding when you are interviewing people and telling them they are going to be charged with extortion.”
Hobbs also sent a letter to the then Regional District Crown Attorney, which he said he did because he didn’t know where else to turn and was frustrated with the allegations.
Keen asked if he sent the letters and statements to be careful or if he was reaching out to a person of authority.
“I don’t see it as being careful,” Hobbs said. “It was telling it like it was. This was a crazy period. That month was just insane.”
The questioning then shifted to Hobbs meeting with the alleged victim, the timelines, and his perceptions of the victim.
Hobbs said he had only met the victim in passing twice before the fall of 2016. During his first formal meeting, which was to discuss a possible business matter, Hobbs said the victim’s behaviour was ‘concerning.’
“We didn’t know him from a hole in the ground,” Hobbs said. “We had no way of formulating his consistent behaviour.”
Keen questioned Hobbs several times about the victim’s behaviour and his treatment of others and why he and Marisa continued to meet with him on several occasions in October and November 2016.
Hobbs responded by saying he still believed the victim could help him and his wife with some business and he became concerned for Voss after meeting her.
But according to Keen, Hobbs made references to rumoured allegations about the victim in his handwritten statement to the OPP and if he believed those rumours to be true, why he continued to associate with the victim.
“I think I was striking out,” Hobbs said regarding what was written in the statement. “I was very upset we were being considered to be charged with extortion.”
Keen also questioned Hobbs about his desire to help Voss and keep her safe, including the victim purchasing a house for her, which Hobbs said would get her away from the alleged victim.
“To get her to a location that (the victim) doesn’t control, correct?” Keen asked.
“She was in our house, but she needed a permanent place,” Hobbs said.
But Keen questioned Hobbs about keeping Voss safe and references made to Craig Loverin, who testified earlier in the trial, and how the victim called him his bodyguard and an assassin.
In statements made to police in 2017, Hobbs made several references to the victim referring to Loverin as an assassin and that Voss was afraid, with Hobbs adding he believed the victim used Loverin as a way of keeping Voss in line. Hobbs testified he did not believe Loverin was an assassin.
But when Hobbs went to police in November 2016, there was no mention of Loverin as an assassin, Keen said.
“I’m suggesting in your statement to the Thunder Bay Police Service, you make no suggestion that he is an assassin,” Keen said.
“I didn’t think he was an assassin,” Hobbs said.
“Because you didn’t take victim seriously?”
“I took him seriously sometimes other times not.”
Hobbs added he was only conveying what the victim had told him.
Keen suggested that if Hobbs was truly worried about Voss’s safety, he would have told police about Loverin in November 2016. Hobbs said Voss was afraid of Loverin but added that he had never seen Loverin hurt anyone and respected his military service.
“If you thought there was somebody out there that would intimidate or break the legs of someone you were trying to protect, that would have been front and centre of your statement,” Keen said.
“It was a witness statement,” Hobbs said.
Keen will continue his cross-examination on Thursday.
Complete coverage of Hobbs trial:
Day 1: Keith Hobbs trial starts today
Witness testifies of interactions between Hobbs and alleged extortion victim
Day 2: Details of extortion allegations heard at Hobbs trial
Day 3: Videos from USB drive given by Hobbs shown in court
Day 4: Alleged extortion victim calls behaviour in videos horrid and awful
'Pack your toothbrush' Hobbs alleged warned extortion victim
Day 5: Alleged extortion victim trying to ‘buy silence:’ Greenspan
Day 6: Alleged extortion victim believes Voss was ‘swayed’ by Keith and Marisa Hobbs
Witness testifies of agreement signed between alleged extortion victim and accused
Day 7: More details emerge of alleged victim’s state in fall 2016 and the discovery of a will
Day 8: Homeowner testifies of Marisa Hobbs and Voss viewing $429,000 home
‘I have never extorted anyone’ Hobbs says during videotaped statement with OPP
Day 9: ‘We are guilty of being stupid:’ Marisa Hobbs tells police
Day 10: OPP investigator tells Voss ‘the truth will set you free’
Marisa Hobbs ‘won’t take no for an answer:’ Voss
Day 11: Voss believes alleged extortion victim 'set her up'
