NEWSMAKERS 2014: Former Penticton city councillor sentenced for sex crimes

PENTICTON — As we count down our top five newsmakers of 2014, we begin with a story that reinforces a concept we should all understand: Anyone is capable of committing a heinous crime.

Before this year, you might have recognized the name Gary Leaman from his term as a Penticton City councillor from 2002 to 2005 or perhaps his run for mayor in 2008. Maybe you knew him as the general manager of Cherry Lane mall or as the former president of the Penticton Chamber of Commerce.

This year you knew him as Gary A. Leaman, convicted criminal.

Leaman, 58, pleaded guilty in June to two counts of sexual assault from events in 2009 and 2011. Leaman disclosed that he was sexually assaulted, himself, as a child and continued to struggle with it and the relationship to his own actions. Before he was sentenced to 21 months in prison, he sought clinical help and is being treated in prison.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Steve Arstad at sarstad@infonews.ca or call 250-488-3065. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.