A St. Albert woman was sentenced to four years in jail after pleading guilty to fraud in St. Albert Provincial Court on Monday.
Laura McChesney was arrested last August after an RCMP investigation revealed she had defrauded a local business of more than $1 million.
Hytorc West, a family-owned industrial bolting company located in the Campbell Business Park, discovered that someone was conducting improper transactions and asked the RCMP to look into the crimes. Following a financial audit, police found that the company fell victim to cheque thefts, cheque forgeries and fraud.
McChesney was charged with theft over $5,000, fraud over $5,000 and forgery over $5,000.
She pled guilty to one count of fraud over $5,000 on Monday. The Crown withdrew the theft and forgery charges.
Crown prosecutor Megan Rosborough asked for a five-year sentence, while the defence made a case for three years. The judge settled on a four-year judgment and a fine of $200. The minimum sentence under the Criminal Code of Canada is two years for offences exceeding $1 million.
McChesney was also ordered to pay additional restitution of $500,000 to the defendant. A civil suit has also been filed against McChesney.
Hytorc West hired McChesney as a bookkeeper in 2003.
Over the span of several years, she stole approximately $1.6 million by writing herself cheques and entering them in the computer as seemingly legitimate invoices, said Hytorc owner Ron Berge.
“She went to a financial institution and got herself cheques. She had no authority to do so,” said Berge. “She’d make the cheques out to her personally.”
