Court rejects appeal of Toronto cop who stole dead man’s $834,000 estate. Const. Robert Konashewych begins 7-year prison sentence
Const. Robert Konashewych and his ex-girlfriend Adellene Balgobin stepped into custody to begin their prison sentences on Wednesday.
July 8, 2026
Toronto police Const. Robert Konashewych and Adellene Balgobin, seen here in an undated selfie, were both convicted of defrauding the estate of Heinz Sommerfeld.
Ontario Superior Court Exhibit
By Betsy Powell Courts Reporter
A former Toronto police officer and his ex‑girlfriend stepped into custody Wednesday after losing the appeals of their convictions and sentences for defrauding the $834,000 estate of an elderly man with dementia.
Robert Konashewych and Adellene Balgobin — once an employee of the Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee — both received seven-year penitentiary sentences after a jury in Toronto convicted them of fraud in 2023 following a trial with a storyline fit for television: a love triangle and an ex‑spouse whose tip to authorities cracked open the scheme.
Balgobin was also found guilty of breach of trust by a public officer in connection with her duties as a client representative at OPGT, where she was responsible for managing Heinz Sommerfeld’s affairs. He died in a long-term-care home in June 2017 without a will, although he had a younger half-brother, Peter Stelter, who was the legal heir who should have received the money. Instead, a cheque for $834,351.55 was transferred into Konashewych’s bank account.
The money was recovered but Stelter has been unable to collect any of the funds while awaiting the outcome of the appeal. The family’s lawyer is now looking into when the funds will be available
“It has been a long nine years since my brother died,” Stelter wrote in an email Wednesday, adding he is “both relieved and happy” with the court’s decision.
During the trial, prosecutors Sam Walker and Peter Scrutton, who is now a judge, suggested it was absurd that Sommerfeld, who worked 45 years as a draftsman for Ontario’s highway department — left the entirety of his estate to the much younger Konashewych. Konashewych did not testify so the Crowns were unable to cross-examine him about his alleged connection to Sommerfeld.
Konashewych and Balgobin had asked the appellate court to reduce their sentences so that they could serve them conditionally in the community, or, at most, to sent them to prison for between two and three years.
The Court of Appeal for Ontario rejected the arguments, finding the trial judge made no errors in imposing sentence.
“It was the many severe aggravating factors in this case and the corrosive impact of the fraud on public trust in the police and the OPGT that drove the trial judge’s decision to impose an ‘exemplary’ sentence,” wrote Justice Jonathon George. Justices Lise G. Favreau and Renee Pomerance agreed. The decision was released Wednesday.
Toronto police Const. Robert Konashewych, left, seen here in a June 1, 2017, file photo, was convicted of forging a will to steal the unclaimed estate of Heinz Sommerfeld, right.
Konashewych and Balgobin have been out on bail pending the results of this appeal.
The appellants raised two main grounds of appeal of their convictions.
Their lawyers argued the trial judge erred by admitting evidence that the appellants had attempted to conceal their affair from Candice Dixon, Konashewych’s former girlfriend turned whistleblower.
At trial, the Crown’s position was that the evidence was “relevant for narrative,” and critical to timing, given all the lies about the relationship when the fraud was in motion.
Gta
A Toronto cop was about to get away with an $834,000 fraud. Then his ex opened his mail
However, the defence lawyers argued that evidence was irrelevant and had nothing to do with whether Konashewych was guilty of fraud, and that it created the risk of moral and reasoning prejudice. They also criticized the Crown for suggesting the pair had taken “extreme steps” to conceal their affair from Dixon.
While the appellant court found the trial judge’s reasoning justifying the admission of the evidence “to be a bit concerning,” the judge did not err in finding it to be probative and relevant, George wrote.
“He properly assessed the probative value of the concealment evidence and clearly apprehended its prejudicial effect, taking note that this conduct was not far removed from the facts underlying the offences charged and that an affair today does not attract the same level of social opprobrium that it may have in the past.”
The panel also rejected the other key appeal ground that the trial judge, Justice Sean Dunphy, delivered an unbalanced jury charge, effectively directing the jury to convict.
“The appellants complaints of imbalance are simply not borne out on the record,” the ruling says. “This was a lengthy and complex trial which involved evidence that needed to be understood not only on its own but in relation to all of the other evidence.”
Synthesizing the evidence and issues in this case “was a formidable task which, in my view, the trial judge did quite well.”
Balgobin was in a clandestine relationship with Konashewych when he produced a will that named him as executor and estate trustee and sole beneficiary of Sommerfeld’s estate.
Balgobin assisted in the probate process by swearing an affidavit attesting to the authenticity of Sommerfeld’s signature on the will and by corresponding with Konashewych’s estate lawyers.
Konashewych swore an affidavit in support of his fraudulent probate application, which included statements about his attempts to locate two witnesses to the will who never actually existed.
Const. Robert Konashewych and his ex-girlfriend Adellene Balgobin stepped into custody to begin their prison sentences on Wednesday.
July 8, 2026
Toronto police Const. Robert Konashewych and Adellene Balgobin, seen here in an undated selfie, were both convicted of defrauding the estate of Heinz Sommerfeld.
Ontario Superior Court Exhibit
By Betsy Powell Courts Reporter
A former Toronto police officer and his ex‑girlfriend stepped into custody Wednesday after losing the appeals of their convictions and sentences for defrauding the $834,000 estate of an elderly man with dementia.
Robert Konashewych and Adellene Balgobin — once an employee of the Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee — both received seven-year penitentiary sentences after a jury in Toronto convicted them of fraud in 2023 following a trial with a storyline fit for television: a love triangle and an ex‑spouse whose tip to authorities cracked open the scheme.
Balgobin was also found guilty of breach of trust by a public officer in connection with her duties as a client representative at OPGT, where she was responsible for managing Heinz Sommerfeld’s affairs. He died in a long-term-care home in June 2017 without a will, although he had a younger half-brother, Peter Stelter, who was the legal heir who should have received the money. Instead, a cheque for $834,351.55 was transferred into Konashewych’s bank account.
The money was recovered but Stelter has been unable to collect any of the funds while awaiting the outcome of the appeal. The family’s lawyer is now looking into when the funds will be available
“It has been a long nine years since my brother died,” Stelter wrote in an email Wednesday, adding he is “both relieved and happy” with the court’s decision.
During the trial, prosecutors Sam Walker and Peter Scrutton, who is now a judge, suggested it was absurd that Sommerfeld, who worked 45 years as a draftsman for Ontario’s highway department — left the entirety of his estate to the much younger Konashewych. Konashewych did not testify so the Crowns were unable to cross-examine him about his alleged connection to Sommerfeld.
Konashewych and Balgobin had asked the appellate court to reduce their sentences so that they could serve them conditionally in the community, or, at most, to sent them to prison for between two and three years.
The Court of Appeal for Ontario rejected the arguments, finding the trial judge made no errors in imposing sentence.
“It was the many severe aggravating factors in this case and the corrosive impact of the fraud on public trust in the police and the OPGT that drove the trial judge’s decision to impose an ‘exemplary’ sentence,” wrote Justice Jonathon George. Justices Lise G. Favreau and Renee Pomerance agreed. The decision was released Wednesday.
Toronto police Const. Robert Konashewych, left, seen here in a June 1, 2017, file photo, was convicted of forging a will to steal the unclaimed estate of Heinz Sommerfeld, right.
Konashewych and Balgobin have been out on bail pending the results of this appeal.
The appellants raised two main grounds of appeal of their convictions.
Their lawyers argued the trial judge erred by admitting evidence that the appellants had attempted to conceal their affair from Candice Dixon, Konashewych’s former girlfriend turned whistleblower.
At trial, the Crown’s position was that the evidence was “relevant for narrative,” and critical to timing, given all the lies about the relationship when the fraud was in motion.
Gta
A Toronto cop was about to get away with an $834,000 fraud. Then his ex opened his mail
However, the defence lawyers argued that evidence was irrelevant and had nothing to do with whether Konashewych was guilty of fraud, and that it created the risk of moral and reasoning prejudice. They also criticized the Crown for suggesting the pair had taken “extreme steps” to conceal their affair from Dixon.
While the appellant court found the trial judge’s reasoning justifying the admission of the evidence “to be a bit concerning,” the judge did not err in finding it to be probative and relevant, George wrote.
“He properly assessed the probative value of the concealment evidence and clearly apprehended its prejudicial effect, taking note that this conduct was not far removed from the facts underlying the offences charged and that an affair today does not attract the same level of social opprobrium that it may have in the past.”
The panel also rejected the other key appeal ground that the trial judge, Justice Sean Dunphy, delivered an unbalanced jury charge, effectively directing the jury to convict.
“The appellants complaints of imbalance are simply not borne out on the record,” the ruling says. “This was a lengthy and complex trial which involved evidence that needed to be understood not only on its own but in relation to all of the other evidence.”
Synthesizing the evidence and issues in this case “was a formidable task which, in my view, the trial judge did quite well.”
Balgobin was in a clandestine relationship with Konashewych when he produced a will that named him as executor and estate trustee and sole beneficiary of Sommerfeld’s estate.
Balgobin assisted in the probate process by swearing an affidavit attesting to the authenticity of Sommerfeld’s signature on the will and by corresponding with Konashewych’s estate lawyers.
Konashewych swore an affidavit in support of his fraudulent probate application, which included statements about his attempts to locate two witnesses to the will who never actually existed.
