An Ontario man who admitted participating in a financially motivated extortion conspiracy involving threats of firebombing and serious violence will serve his sentence at home.

Ontario Superior Court Justice Catherine Rhinelander sentenced Mahyar Soldouzi, 43, to a 16-month conditional sentence after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit extortion.

The case emerged from Project South, a major York Regional Police investigation into alleged police corruption and criminal networks.

According to an agreed statement of facts reported by Global News, Soldouzi offered to pay Ryan Cribbie to collect a disputed renovation debt reportedly worth between $21,000 and $24,000.

Soldouzi admitted that he knew the proposed collection plan involved extreme violence.

Police wiretaps captured Cribbie discussing throwing a Molotov cocktail through the intended target’s window, beating him when he fled the home and forcing him to pay the alleged debt.

Cribbie also reportedly suggested bringing “a bunch of white racist guys” to carry out the plan.

Soldouzi allegedly instructed him to “do what you gotta do” and sought assurances that neither he nor his family would be identified as the source of the collection effort.

In a later intercepted conversation, Soldouzi was told that the target was being followed and that the men were considering confronting him at a coffee shop without surveillance cameras. Soldouzi reportedly responded, “sounds good.”

Police intervened before the alleged plan was carried out. No one was physically injured.

The intended target and his wife nevertheless feared for their lives after investigators warned them about the threat. They temporarily left their home, forcing their basement tenants to move as well.

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Sentence served in the community

Assistant Crown attorney Sandra Duffey acknowledged that the conspiracy was incomplete but emphasized that it was financially motivated.

Justice Rhinelander accepted a joint Crown-defence submission imposing a 16-month conditional sentence.

Soldouzi will spend the first six months under strict house arrest. The sentence will later transition to a nightly curfew. He will then be subject to two years of probation.

The court also considered a proposed $3,100 restitution order to compensate the intended target for expenses connected to leaving his home.

Rhinelander identified several mitigating factors, including Soldouzi’s guilty plea, remorse and lack of a previous criminal record. He had also completed 85 hours of community service.

However, the judge acknowledged that Soldouzi had tried to bypass lawful remedies and took no issue when Cribbie discussed firebombing the target’s home.

Soldouzi’s lawyer also emphasized that her client was not implicated in the wider allegations of police corruption uncovered through Project South.

No jail for violent conspiracy

The sentence means Soldouzi will serve no time in a conventional jail for participating in a conspiracy that contemplated a Molotov cocktail, a beating and threats to break the target’s legs.

Although the violence was never carried out, the intended victim and his family were forced from their home after police concluded the danger was serious enough to warn them.

The outcome is another example of the restrictions placed on sentencing judges when Crown and defence lawyers present a joint recommendation. Under Supreme Court precedent, a judge should reject such an agreement only when accepting it would bring the administration of justice into disrepute or otherwise be contrary to the public interest.

Cribbie faces conspiracy to commit extortion and firearms-related charges. Those allegations remain before the courts and have not been proven.

No written sentencing decision appears to have been published.