Former Islamic State recruit allowed to finish seven-year sentence living with wife

Former Islamic State recruit allowed to finish seven-year sentence living with wife

An Ottawa man convicted of attempting to leave Canada to join ISIS will now be able to live with his wife for the remainder of his seven-year sentence after having the residency requirement of his parole removed by the Parole Board of Canada.

Carlos Larmond, 30, was released from prison in December 2019 while serving his sentence for attempting to leave Canada to participate in terrorist activity abroad and threatening to kill a corrections officer while in pretrial custody.

He was most recently living in a Calgary halfway house.

Larmond and his twin brother, Ashton, attended an Ottawa high school and conspired over a five-month period from August 2014 to January 2015, in both Ottawa and Gatineau, Que.

Larmond was arrested later that month at a Montreal airport en route to Syria with a plan to join an ISIS terrorist training camp.

Last fall, he was granted extra freedoms, such as being able to leave the halfway house to travel to the mountains for overnight trips with his then-fiancée.

Those restrictions were further loosened last month, as first reported in the Ottawa Citizen. The parole board is now allowing him to live with his wife.

“You benefit from the support of your wife and the relationship appears stable. [Correctional Service Canada ] views her as a pro-social community support,” the decision reads.

The parole board said Larmond had his own renovation company for a time, but suffered an injury on the job.

The decision also said police supported the plan to allow Larmond to remove the residency requirement of his parole and allow him to stop living in a halfway house.

Other conditions remain in effect until the end of his sentence, including no drinking or taking non-prescription medication and having to follow a treatment plan to help him deal with managing his emotions, antisocial thoughts and radicalization.

“You no longer present an undue risk to society by committing an offence … before the expiration of your sentence.”

His sentence ends on Aug. 25.

Source: CBC News