Kamloops bookkeeper ordered to repay former employer following fraud | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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Kamloops News

Kamloops bookkeeper ordered to repay former employer following fraud

KAMLOOPS - A 50-year-old Kamloops woman avoided jail-time today after defrauding a Kamloops business while she was employed as the company's bookkeeper.

Lynn Christine Stalzer pleaded guilty today to fraud under $5,000 for two incidents in 2011 while working for Trick Transport in Kamloops.

Crown prosecutor Chris Balison said a police investigation into the fraud was 'significant' as they detailed authorized and unauthorized transactions made by Stalzer.

The Crown said Stalzer completed two unauthorized deposits to her own personal account in 2011: $1,500 in extra funds on payday and an extra $500 deposited while paying off a large outstanding company visa bill.

"(The fraud) occurred at her own hand while she was doing the company books," Balison said.

Defence lawyer Rachel Lammers said Stalzer has been working in accounting and bookkeeping since high school and was facing 'personal and financial difficulties' at the time of the fraud because her husband had been laid off from work. Lammers said Stalzer declared bankruptcy last year and has since left for a job working at another transport company in town.

"This woman is not a woman with any criminal record of any kind," Lammers said. "She made some poor decisions."

Kamloops Provincial Court Judge Chris Cleaveley said the charge often leads to a jail sentence, however the relatively 'small amount' saved her this time around.

"I made a mistake," Stalzer said.

Cleaveley handed Stalzer a three-month conditional sentence and was ordered to repay the $2,000 back to the company.

To contact a reporter for this story, email: jwallace@infotelnews.ca, call: (250) 319-7494 or tweet: @jess__wallace.

News from © iNFOnews, 2013
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