Trust Fraud Results in rare CSO, instead of Jail

Charge(s):

CC: s. 380(1)(a) – Fraud over $5000

Allegations:

Over a period of 9 months, my client defrauded her employer of over $23,000 by falsifying the hours worked by herself as well as her husband. As a manager, she was entrusted to submit accurate overtime hours worked by the employees within her department. This crime was only was discovered after her husband called to inquire about a T4 slip that he received. He denied having worked at all during the timeframe in question. My client had also changed his banking details, so that his paychecks would be depositted directly into her own account, without his knowledge. This triggered a full internal investigation, which resulted in her termination and a criminal charge. When confronted by the president of the company, my client provided a full confession, which was recorded.

Result:

Following extensive resolution negotiations with the assigend Crown, my client received a Conditional Sentence Order. This is a highly unusual and extremely lenient sentence for this type of offence. Normally trust thefts, in this range, result in a jail sentence of approximately 1 year. In fact, soon after this offence date, the Criminal Code was amended to prevent trust frauds from qualifying for a CSO. Now, any person convicted of a trust fraud over $5000 is certainly facing a significant period of incarceration.