Elizabeth Eek, aka Beth Galley, is seen in a 2012 Facebook photo.

Image Credit: FACEBOOK

A West Kelowna mom of two, with a lengthy history of ripping people off, will spend nine months in jail after she submitted dozens of fraudulent claims through her work healthcare benefits.

Elizabeth Kathleen Eek, who goes by the name Beth Galley, was sentenced, Aug. 22, at the Kelowna courthouse, making this her fifth conviction for fraud.

"You are educated, you are smart it, sounds like you have raised two young men, they cannot be proud of you right now, you need to do better," BC Provincial Court Judge Clarke Burnett told her.

The court heard how Eek had worked for the Snore MD Sleep Apnea Clinic in Kelowna and received medical benefits through work.

She then put through 73 insurance claims, under her name, her spouse's name and the names of their two children, over several months in 2020.

The insurance company Manulife Financial conducted an audit and found 58 of the claims were fraudulent.

Altogether Eek netted $14,777.

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The judge pointed out that the insurance company passed on the cost of the fraud to its customers and everyone paid for it.

However, her lawyer Mark Chiu asked the judge not to force Eek to pay it back.

"On what basis would I not?" Judge Burnett said. "Why would the court not make that order?"

While the judge did order Eek to pay it back, it seems unlikely she will based on her previous history.

The court heard how she failed to pay back any of the businesses she defrauded over the last 15 years regardless of being ordered to do so by the courts.

The 45-year-old was first charged with fraud in 2007 and somehow managed to stay under the radar for seven years before finally coming before a judge in 2015. That case involved a similar insurance scam for $8,000 and she received nine-month house arrest.

A year later, while working for the Gentle Dental Clinic, she stole $6,000 in cash and altered bank deposits.

Crown prosecutor David Grabavac said the distortion of the bookkeeping caused the business serious harm. For that, she got a 90-day jail sentence served on the weekends.

The pattern continued and in 2018, while working at another medical clinic, she wrote cheques to herself and stole cash to the value of $8,500. This time she got nine months behind bars.

"She certainly didn't learn from that," the judge said. "She hadn't yet completed her probation from the last one when she went out and did it again."

Outside of the criminal files, Eek also has a lengthy history of owing people money dating back almost her entire adult life.

In 2001, the Osoyoos Credit Union took her and her partner, Shay Galley, to the small claims court over $3,400. In April, a vehicle loan company started court proceedings over a $13,500 loan.

A former employer also accused her in 2009 of swiping $4,400 from their Vancouver business. The allegation was never proven in court.

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A former landlady previously told iNFOnews.ca that Eek, or Beth Galley as she knew her, owed her $7,100 when she and her entire family had to be forcefully removed after months of paying no rent.

At a previous court appearance, Eek had used a fake doctor's note to get out of it. The landlady said she'd once pulled the same stunt to try to get out of paying rent.

Little was said in court about Eek's life or upbringing, but Judge Burnett said it was stable and unremarkable.

She graduated high school and completed a medical assistant program in Vancouver. She has been with her partner for more than 20 years and has two sons aged 18 and 21.

Her defence lawyer argued for a sentence of house arrest saying she had remorse and noting the media coverage said she was embarrassed.

"She would love to be at home helping to raise these boys," the lawyer said.

Judge Burnett said a sentence of house arrest was "completely unacceptable."

"Ms. Eek has had ample opportunity to get the message... (and) she didn't get the message," he said. "Her next opportunity was when she had a 90-day jail sentence... she didn't get the message. And finally, after the last jail sentence of nine months, she didn't get the message."

The judge said "her own actions" made it "abundantly clear" she should go to jail.

The judge added he would have handed out a longer sentence if the Crown had asked for it.

"You can be rest assured ma'am that if you ever do this again... anyone sitting where I am sitting today would have no difficulty handing down a (lengthy) jail sentence."

With time already served Eek will spend another eight months in jail.

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