Gambling addict sentenced to four years for stealing $1.5M from employers
By Daryl Slade, Calgary Herald
April 15, 2013
Stealing $1.5 million from her employers to feed a severe gambling addiction has landed a Calgary woman a four-and-a-half-year prison sentence.
Provincial court Judge Harry Van Harten said Monday in sentencing Janice Lorraine Boyes, 60, that one of the main aggravating factors was the amount of the fraud against Integrated Environments Ltd. — $1,522,219.
“The accused was in a position of trust relative to the victims,” said Van Harten. “No restitution has been or is ever likely to be made, The IEL principals, near the end of their working lives, have been significantly affected by this crime. The accused has two previous convictions for identical offences.”
Boyes was handed a 12-month conditional sentence and 12 months probation on Oct. 11, 2002, for stealing $32,123 from Bull and Finch Pub, where she was a bookkeeper. None of the amount of that restitution ordered has been paid.
The woman was also given a six-month conditional sentence Dec. 4, 2000, for fraud over $5,000 against Loss Prevention Group Inc., where she worked as an accountant. She never paid $3,115 ordered by the court for restitution in that case.
Van Harten agreed with Crown prosecutor Brian Kiers that a five-year sentence was appropriate because of the huge fraud, but reduced it by six months for her guilty plea.
Defence lawyer Telmo Dos Santos had argued for three years for his client.
“Indeed, and fortunately, it is a rare instance in which a fraudster can take this amount of money from a single victim,” said the judge.
The judge noted that Miles Scott-Brown and Joseph Wells, IEL’s two principle shareholders, spoke in their victim impacts statements that they lost far more than money.
Scott-Brown described the negative effect the crime had on staff morale and the company’s positive, co-operative work culture, and that he expected he’d have to delay his retirement plans.
Wells said there was a loss of trust within IEL, as well as personal stress and sleeplessness it caused him, especially because he brought Boyes into the company. He estimated he would have to work another five years to overcome the financial losses.
Court heard the fraud occurred over a four-year period.
Kiers said previously in reading an agreed statement of facts that Boyes used her IEL bank card and Interac to make 1,134 unauthorized transfers, either from the company’s account to her personal account, withdrawals or cash advances totalling $1,522,219.
The prosecutor said the fraud began Jan. 9, 2007, and continued until Aug. 16, 2010, when one of the company’s executives requested that she bring him the company’s accounting records.
Boyes admitted she had used the card for her own purposes.
A few weeks later, another IEL executive asked Boyes for the password to access the company’s online banking.
When she finally gave him the information, again after some delay, he discovered a number of unauthorized withdrawals from the accounts and noted several of the transactions were debit card purchases made at the Grey Eagle Casino.
When confronted, Boyes admitted taking the money and told him about her gambling problem. She again admitted the fraud the next day in an email, and advised him she was getting help for her problem.
Police were then called by IEL and Boyes was charged Jan. 10, 2012, following an extensive investigation by an accounting firm.
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/alberta/Gambling+addict+sentenced+four+years+stealing/8245505/story.html
| Calgary gambling addict jailed for $1.5M
fraud Sun News Network CALGARY -- Bilking more than $1.5 million from her employer to feed her gambling addiction has landed a thrice convicted fraudster a 4 1/2-year prison term. Provincial court Judge Harry Van Harten on Monday agreed with Crown attorney Brian Kiers' ... |
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