Legislation recently passed makes house arrest a possible punishment for crimes like that of Nicole Mann, in which she forged 90 checks from a foundation that donates primarily to children’s charities.
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New federal legislation means a Calgary judge must consider house arrest as possible punishment for a woman who defrauded a children’s charity of more than $450,000, a prosecutor said Monday.
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But crown counsel Steven Johnston said while Judge Bruce Fraser should consider a conditional sentencing order (CSO) for Nicole Mann, he should reject it outright.
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Defense attorney David Roper suggested that the provincial court judge could award Mann a CSO of two fewer years per day, followed by three years of probation.
Roper said Fraser could even order Mann to be placed under house arrest while she is on probation, effectively imprisoning her in her own home for five years.
But Johnston said that while that term was appropriate, it should be met behind royal bars.
The prosecutor said Mann’s scheme, in which she forged 90 checks from the Colliers Cares Foundation, which awards primarily to children’s charities, warranted a sentence well in excess of the maximum two-year eligibility for CSOs.
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Parliament recently passed legislation making such sentences available for crimes like Mann’s, but Johnston said that still doesn’t make it an appropriate punishment.
He noted that Mann’s fraud was not a single act.
“It happened over and over and over again,” Johnston said.
“She kept going… the only reason she stopped was because she got caught.”
Fraser convicted Mann of fraud and laundering of proceeds of crime in September, rejecting her claim that amounts paid to her were “hush” money to keep her quiet about sexual misconduct toward her by Colliers employees. .
Mann testified that Chris Law, a shareholder and partner in Colliers CMN Calgary, the real estate brokerage firm that established the charity and instrumental in creating the foundation, paid her the funds to keep quiet.
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But Fraser said it didn’t make sense that Law would actually steal from the charity to pay Mann money to cover up allegations against other employees, including a claim that she had been raped by one.
Mann also claimed that some of the 90 checks allegedly signed by Law were to “top up” his salary.
“His version is simply not plausible.
“It is not plausible that Mr. Law would take it upon himself to increase his salary by stealing from a charity fund that he helped create,” Fraser said in his written judgment.
“There is no support or corroboration that she was sexually assaulted and paid to keep quiet. It makes no sense for her to secretly get paid for whatever reason from a charity fund.”
Roper argued that forgiving Mann’s actual custody would allow him to continue working and begin paying restitution for the $456,685 he stole.
A date for Fraser’s sentencing will be set on Wednesday.
On twitter: @KMartinCourts