No Jail Time for Former Ogdensburg City Councillor Accused of Forgery

There will be no jail time for a former Ogdensburg City Councillor who admitted forging the name of a professional wrestling official in connection with thousands of dollars missing from student fundraisers.

There was no denial from Chris Ericksen that he broke the law by forging the name of a World Wrestling Entertainment official on a cash receipt.

But Ericksen denied ever taking any money.

Ericksen told the Court before his sentencing on a misdemeanor third degree forgery charge that he has been living a life of frustration for the last 10 months over inferences that he allegedly stole missing money from a student activity fund.

Chris Ericksen walked out of this courtroom essentially a free man after being granted a one year conditional discharge.

Ericksen’s plea deal with prosecutors saw him reimburse the Ogdensburg school district more than $12,000 for the cost of an internal audit during an investigation into allegations of missing funds and an additional $3100 to the student fund.

He also resigned his job as facilities manager at the OFA’s Golden Dome.

When asked if he felt vindicated by the outcome of the sentencing, he said “no comment”.

But his attorney says even though the forgery was wrong, Ericksen was not trying to cover up any criminal activity.

Ericksen was an advisor to the Student Council for several fundraisers including two wrestling events at the Dome in 2006.

The school audit suggested more than $6,000 was missing from one of the 2006 wrestling events while the WWE claimed it was shorted $15,000.

But poor bookkeeping procedures could not allow investigators to determine exactly how much may have been missing or who was at fault:

Ericksen told the court he thought about fighting the charges because in his words, “I’m not the only person who should be questioned, punished or ordered to pay some renumeration here.”

John Friot reports:

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