(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)

A former BC school principal lost his teaching licence after he embezzled more than $280,000 from a First Nation school in Northern BC.

Kelly Joseph Rambeau was reimbursed for various credit card expenses over three years, until Coast Tsimshian Academy caught on to his fraud in 2018, according to a decision by the BC Commissioner for Teacher Regulation.

After settling a lawsuit with the school last year, the regulator stripped him of his teaching licence last month. He signed the agreement on Aug. 15, admitting to the thousands of dollars he wrongfully took from the Port Simpson school.

In 2018, auditors found "irregularities" in the school's petty cash, travel claims and expense reimbursement, according to the decision. The school then ordered a forensic audit that found he submitted ongoing wrongful expenses from July 1, 2015, to Oct. 23, 2018, which was the day he was fired.

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The school reimbursed Rambeau for somewhere between $286,287 and $337,133 in expenses in that time. He doubled up on some of them, writing himself cheques after the school had already reimbursed him.

The decision said he used the money to "purchase or fund various properties."

On Nov. 14, 2018, the school launched a civil suit against Rambeau and a person he hired for administrative work at the school.

He first denied the school's claims he defrauded the funds, but they eventually landed on a settlement on June 27, 2022. He agreed to repay the school $175,000, acknowledged his conduct and apologize.

"I was careless with the school finances and benefited from those reimbursements for personal expenses that I was not entitled to," he said as part of the settlement.

The decision didn't name the employee he hired or say whether she also settled with the school.

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BC's teacher regulator began investigating on Nov. 30, 2018, and proposed a consent agreement with Rambeau in August 2022.

Under the agreement he signed, Rambeau acknowledged his conduct "had the potential" to undermine the reputation of the teaching profession, that he failed to act as a role model and improperly benefitted from his position of authority.

The decision didn't say if he would have to wait to reapply for a teaching licence, but it said his conduct and the subsequent agreement will be considered if he chooses to do so.

Despite the regulator's investigation and the civil suit, Rambeau has not been criminally charged in BC.

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