Real estate photo
For Sale: Five-bedroom Westmount home in London with resort-like backyard beautifully renovated on the backs of student athletes. Portion of sale to be deposited to the Thames Valley Regional Athletic Association.
Asking price: $599,000.
If you’re interested in the home of a disgraced former London teacher convicted of skimming nearly $800,000 from bank accounts he controlled as head of the Thames Valley Regional Athletic Association, now’s your chance.
As promised in a London court early this year, Wes McConnell’s home at 818 Adirondack Rd. is on the market.
The home in southwest London went up for sale a week ago, May 11, listed by realtor Glen Gordon.
With no open houses, the home has had at least a dozen people through and Gordon said he expected to receive more than one offer Thursday night. (Click here for pictures of the house.)
“We held off offers until (Thursday),” he said. “We’ve had a lot of interest.”
McConnell was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay back $777,593.63 he admitted to taking when he pleaded guilty last October to one count of fraud valued at more than $5,000 for a decade of skimming from bank accounts he controlled when he was the association’s learning co-ordinator.
McConnell’s lawyer Robert Sheppard said in February his client would use $186,300 from the sale of his home as an instalment on the restitution.
“I’m happy to hear it’s listed, because it’s the first step in a long process of restitution,” said Bill Tucker, education director for the Thames Valley board.
McConnell hasn’t paid back any money to the association, Tucker said.
McConnell spent about $110,000 on a backyard pool and lavish landscaping at his home and hundreds of thousands of dollars more to feed a compulsive gambling addiction that he fed by spending up to $400 a day on lottery tickets.
Meanwhile, during the 10 years McConnell was in charge of the association, athletics programs for students were cut back to make up the shortfalls.
The Thames Valley Regional Athletic Association is in the final stages of determining its budget for next year, Tucker said. The budget will be presented to an audit committee and posted on the Thames Valley board website, he said.
Asked if the association will be able to boost athletic programming once the money has been paid back, Tucker said “that’s our hope.”
McConnell paid $380,000 for the home in 2002.
E-mail jennifer.obrien@sunmedia.ca, or follow Obrienatlfpress on Twitter.