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A Kamloops bookkeeper has been sentenced to nearly two years in prison after she stole more than $144,000 in a long-running dental insurance fraud.

Christina Leigh Bornais, 48, pleaded guilty to four of her 21 criminal charges in September, admitting to the six-year fraud that caused a paperwork nightmare for her former employer.

Today, Nov. 6, Bornais stood as BC Supreme Court Justice Brad Smith sentenced her to spend the next 20 months in custody. She erupted in tears as her hopes of spending her sentence on house arrest were denied.

Smith said Bornais had a "deliberate pattern of deception" over the course of her six-year scheme, covering her tracks by deleting patient records and writing off debts, then trying to obfuscate the truth from an accountant the clinic hired in 2019.

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Once she's released from prison, Bornais will also have to repay Dr. Maureen Murray, her former employer, more than $140,000 in restitution.

Bornais pleaded guilty to two counts of altering or destroying records, fraud over $5,000 and theft over $5,000, with the remaining charges expected to be stayed. 

In September, Crown prosecutor Leah Winters told the court it's been difficult to determine just how much she stole, but the dental clinic's accountant and RCMP investigators could point to at least $144,900 in cheques Bornais fraudulently deposited into her own accounts.

Justice Winters said Dr. Murray estimates more than $200,000 was stolen from her clinic, but it gradually became more difficult to track down her losses as insurance companies began to charge her for the records and copies of cheques she requested.

Dr. Murray is working for free while trying to reconstruct the paperwork nightmare she's been left with.

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"(The accountant's) attempts to work with Bornais to clean up accounts and address discrepancies were unsuccessful as Bornais withheld information, misrepresented facts and was generally non-responsive," Justice Winters said.

Dr. Murray and her husband confronted and fired Bornais in March 2019.

Bornais' lawyer Joe Killoran told the court the theft began when her son faced legal trouble and she needed money to support the upcoming bills, but she was also dealing with alcoholism at the time.

Killoran said that was the beginning of a cycle that she managed to continue until she was "relying on the money," admitting the fraud was "inexcusable and deliberate."

"I take full responsibility for my crimes and I'm not fighting the charges in any way. I'm full of remorse for what I did. I just hope you can understand, even if you can never forgive me," Bornais said in a letter written for Dr. Murray.

The defence sought a two-year conditional sentence order and three-year probation, rather than time behind bars. Crown, however, sought a 20-month jail sentence followed by two years of probation.

Justice Smith sided with the prosecution.

Once released, Bornais will be barred from handling money for businesses or for volunteering purposes for the next 10 years.

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