Gambling Addict Gets Early Parole

Convicted AADAC fraud gets early parole
By TONY BLAIS, Court Bureau

A former senior Alberta bureaucrat handed three-and-a-half years in prison for bilking $634,000 from AADAC is out after serving just seven months, the Sun has learned.

According to documents obtained Wednesday from the Parole Board of Canada, Lloyd Carr, 46, was granted both day parole and full parole in a decision made on Sept. 22, five months after he began serving his April 16 sentence, and he was released to a halfway house on Nov. 15.

The parole board says Carr, as a first-time federal offender for a non-violent crime, falls, by law, under an accelerated review provision and the board is directed to release him unless he is likely to commit a violent offence.

The decision has upset many people living in the community of Swan River, Manitoba, where Carr had been living.

“People in Swan River are shocked he is out already,” said one person, who asked to remain anonymous due to the size of the town. “What kind of court system is this?”

The person told the Sun that Carr has been living in a halfway house in Brandon, Manitoba and working in a hog barn and said he was seen in the Swan River Co-op Shopping Mall on Saturday “strolling up and down the aisles with his famous smirk on his face.”

Carr was sentenced to three years and six months on April 16 in an Edmonton court after earlier pleading guilty to fraud over $5,000 for defrauding $634,000 from the Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission (AADAC), where he was an executive director.

Court heard between 2003 and 2006, AADAC entered into grant agreements with Action on Smoking and Health and the Alberta Lung Association and payments were made. However, Carr set up bogus contracts for work that was never done to divert AADAC cash into his own pockets.

The fraud was discovered after AADAC officials became suspicious of Carr’s behaviour and advised the Alberta Auditor General’s office, who began an investigation.

The auditor general also learned Carr had a prior criminal record for theft and did not have a university degree in social work as he had claimed in his job application.

Out of the massive fraud, Carr netted $481,413. That money has never been fully accounted for.

A civil case, spawned by a lawsuit launched by AADAC, was settled when Carr paid $375,000 in restitution.

A bombshell was dropped just before Carr’s sentencing when it was learned that he had lied about running a painting business when he had actually been employed as a mental health clinician in Flin Flon, Manitoba and that he had got the job using a bogus university degree.

As well, it was learned that he had taken a medical leave of absence for made-up bowel cancer treatments, using a forged doctor’s note, when he was actually in court in Edmonton being sentenced on the fraud.

The RCMP later charged Carr with two counts of uttering a forged document and one count of fraud and said Tuesday that he is slated to be in court on Jan. 6.

According to the parole board documents, the board was satisfied there were no reasonable grounds to believe that, if released, Carr was likely to commit an offence involving violence before the expiration of his sentence.

The documents say there was no information on his file showing that Carr had previously behaved in a violent manner or had the potential to commit a violent crime.

However, the board did note Carr poses a risk to re-offend in a non-violent manner as a result of his “history of dishonesty,” difficulty managing stress, the fact he had disclosed he has a “serious gambling addiction,” and reports saying he has minimized the seriousness of his crimes.

“The board has serious concerns with regard to your potential to re-offend in a non-violent behaviour. File information portrays you as a dishonest individual who has minimized your criminal behaviour,” it says.

“The extent of your gambling addiction remains unknown and you have yet to adequately address your risk factors while incarcerated.

“However, as noted above, the focus of this decision is violent re-offending. Given the fact that your criminal history does not include violence, the fact there are no stress factors in your release environment which could lead to violence, and no psychological or psychiatric information indicating that you have the potential to commit a violent offence, the board must adhere to the legislation and direct your release.”

As a result of the board’s concerns, Carr had special release conditions imposed on him.

While on day parole, he must take psychological counselling, attend and participate in addictions programming, abstain from gambling and provide his parole supervisor with full financial disclosure.

While on full parole, which, according to the decision, is slated to begin on June 16, Carr is under the same conditions other than the addictions programming.