The Superior Court of Justice in Ontario has recently found a former accountant guilty of defrauding a previous employer in North Bay of over CA$100,000. From 2002 to 2012, Sharon Elliot worked as a bookkeeper for Steele Industrial Supplier Inc. and she was caught taking money from the company to fuel her gambling problem and gambled in Casino Rama.
Back in 2015 Ms. Elliot pled guilty to a fraud charge and paid CA$100,000 in restitution to the company. However, the employer argued that she embezzled much more than that, citing numbers in the region of CA$646,000. She was already caught defrauding the firm in 2007 when it was discovered she was paying herself for more hours but was given another chance.
Wasting her Second Chance
Steele Industrial Supplier Inc.’s business expanded rapidly in 2008 and 2009, however, Ms. Elliott reported the firm was not making any profits. Then an accountant was hired to investigate and found that she was taking several gambling trips to Casino Rama. It was later revealed that she suffered from problem gambling which she fueled by taking money from the employer.
After a confrontation, she admitted to her crime, but then a dispute emerged over how much she actually defrauded, as she insisted on CA$94,000 and then agreed to pay CA$100,000. However, according to the company, Ms. Elliot took between CA$355,000 and CA$455,000. The judge in the case ruled for a separate hearing where both parties could explain their version of the numbers.
Accountants hired by Steele calculated that the culprit deposited CA$207,000 in bank accounts and that she spent CA$319,000 on slot machines and other games at the casino. But an accounting firm, hired by Ms. Elliot, estimated the amounts using her casino VIP card which monitored the number of visits, the time she spent there, the amount of money she put through the slot machines, and her net loss.
By using the VIP card, the defendant lost around CA$81,000 at the casino, while a second review by Ms. Ellion in 2021, found she stole between CA$101,000 and CA$248,000. This month, the judge in the case used evidence and calculated CA$204,670. After taking out the initial CA$100,000 she paid to the firm, she now must pay back the rest of the money or CA$104,670.
Canada is No Stranger to Gambling-Related Crimes
Over the last couple of months, the country heard about more gambling-related crimes. For instance, a Halifax bookkeeper is set to serve an eight-year prison sentence for stealing over CA$7.6 million from her previous employers, and gambling ways close to CA$6.4 million. The culprit was Sherri Lamarche who worked for 15 years as an accountant for Banc Group.
In addition to that, in June 2023, police reported a 27-year-old woman from Toronto who stands accused of orchestrating a lottery scam targeting seniors in Alberta and Manitoba. Allegedly, the woman defrauded multiple victims for over CA$50,000. The Peel Regional Police arrested her in June and she is now set to stand trial.
Source: MacDonald, Darren “Former North Bay bookkeeper guilty of stealing $100Ks from employer to gamble at casino” CTV News Northern Ontario, October 5, 2023
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