More than a year after a former pool contractor pleaded guilty to fraud, a Windsor woman says she has yet to receive any of the roughly $55,000 in restitution she was awarded. Thomas Dowling was ordered in January 2025 to pay restitution ‘forthwith’ after pleading guilty in connection with money taken from customers of his pool contracting business. Althea Di Gregorio says she and her husband hired Dowling to build what was supposed to become the centrepiece of their backyard and retirement plans. “This was going to be our retirement oasis,” Di Gregorio said. The pool was never installed. Di Gregorio said the couple had already spent additional money preparing and landscaping the property around a pool that never arrived. “We wanted to be able to come outside and have a swim and have entertained and have the life of a pool in the backyard,” she said. “This isn’t what we had planned. This isn’t what we had hoped for.” ‘We have not received any restitution’ Di Gregorio said Dowling was ordered in January 2025 to pay the restitution immediately. “We have not received any restitution from Tom Dowling,” she said. Di Gregorio said she left the court proceedings believing that, with a guilty plea entered and a restitution order issued, recovering the money would follow. “We understood by what the judge said and what was agreed to by the Crown and Dowling’s lawyer, Kevin Shannon, that the monies would be coming to us to be paid forthwith,” she said. Instead, Di Gregorio said she has spent the time since trying to determine who is responsible when a restitution order goes unpaid. She said she was told the matter would be dealt with by authorities in New Brunswick, where she understands Dowling now lives. Dowling’s move to New Brunswick was already known to the court at the time of sentencing. According to CTV News Windsor’s January 2025 coverage of the proceedings, directives were established to allow Dowling to carry out the conditions imposed on him while living in New Brunswick. At the time, defence lawyer Kevin Shannon told the court Dowling’s pool business initially performed well after he moved to Windsor in 2021, contracting approximately 30 pools in his first year and 40 in 2022. But mounting debts eventually put Dowling into what Shannon described in court as a “rob Peter to pay Paul situation.” The court also heard Dowling was dealing with significant physical disabilities, including a partial foot amputation and circulatory problems in his legs. Shannon said proceeds from the sale of Dowling’s home had been used to compensate one victim but told the court his client was not in a position at the time to pay the others. CTV News contacted Shannon Tuesday for an update. He declined to comment on the record. A restitution order does not collect itself Windsor criminal lawyer Dan Scott says the difficulty Di Gregorio has encountered illustrates an important distinction between being awarded restitution and actually collecting it. “Unfortunately, the standalone restitution order ... doesn’t have its own collection mechanism,” Scott said. That distinction is also spelled out on the notice provided to recipients with a restitution order. The notice states that when an offender has been ordered to pay restitution through the clerk of the criminal court, the court will forward payments it receives to the victim. However, the notice also warns that the court cannot take steps to enforce the order on the recipient’s behalf. If the offender fails to pay by the date specified in the order — or misses a periodic payment — the notice directs the recipient toward the civil court system. In other words, the criminal court can determine that an offender owes restitution, but collecting an unpaid amount may require the victim to initiate another process. Scott said registering the restitution order as a civil judgment is what begins opening up conventional debt-enforcement mechanisms. “I think that’s the avenue that she has to pursue at this point,” Scott said. “That’s something she can do on her own, that she doesn’t have to spend money on a lawyer. But I think if she goes and registers that judgment, that starts the process.” What can victims do to collect restitution? Once a restitution order is entered as a civil judgment, Scott said a victim can begin pursuing the kinds of enforcement remedies available to other judgment creditors. “They could garnish the person’s wages. They could get a writ of seizure of property if he owns it. They can force the sale of land,” Scott said. The notice accompanying Di Gregorio’s restitution order similarly tells recipients that, after having the order entered as a civil judgment, they may take measures to collect the restitution as if it were a civil debt. It specifically identifies garnishing income and seizing assets as possible collection measures if the victim has information about the offender’s employment or assets. The process, however, remains driven by the person owed the money. Scott said another tool is an examination of the debtor. That procedure can require the debtor to appear and provide information about their financial circumstances and why the judgment has not been paid. Scott said that becomes particularly significant when a creditor does not know what income or assets are available to pursue. “Then you do the examination of the debtor,” Scott said. Scott cautioned during the interview that civil enforcement is not his primary area of practice but said failing to comply with an order to attend such an examination can escalate the matter. “If they compel him to come for a debtor’s exam, and that’s a no-show, they can issue a warrant for the person’s arrest,” Scott said. That does not mean a person can be arrested simply for failing to pay restitution. Scott’s explanation concerned the potential consequences of failing to comply with a requirement to appear for a debtor examination. The $50,000 threshold Di Gregorio’s case carries an additional complication because of the amount she is owed. Ontario’s Small Claims Court limit is $50,000. When Scott initially discussed the civil-enforcement process, he explained that a restitution order within that limit could be filed in Small Claims Court. When told Di Gregorio’s amount was $54,542, he said pursuing the full judgment would instead take her to Superior Court. “So, then she has to go into Superior Court for that,” Scott said. “And that might be a little more cumbersome.” Scott said one possible alternative would be for a victim to cap the amount being pursued at the Small Claims Court limit, effectively giving up the amount above that threshold in exchange for pursuing the claim through Small Claims Court. He described it as a potential “bird in the hand” approach for someone seeking to expedite collection rather than pursue the entire amount through the higher court. Regardless of which route is taken, obtaining a civil judgment does not itself produce the money. Rather, it gives the person owed restitution access to mechanisms that can be used to try to collect it. ‘Why are we having to lose sleep over this?’ For Di Gregorio, that means a criminal case she believed had reached its conclusion may now be followed by another legal process. “Why are we having to lose sleep over this?” she said. “This is a lot of money. $55,000 is a lot of money to lose.” She said the consequences extend beyond the money. Di Gregorio said being defrauded has changed the way she deals with people she hires and has left her questioning whether she can trust contractors who come to her home. “There are so many folks that have been taken by fraudsters, by people that are dishonest,” she said. “You have damaged people’s not only their bank accounts, but you have damaged people in terms of psychological and emotional stability. You don’t know who to trust. People come in to say they’re going to do some work for you. You second guess everything. And that’s a horrible way to live.”
