Toronto Fraudster Brenda Andrew Loses Appeal, Upholds Jail Sentence
Brenda Andrew, a 66-year-old woman with a history of defrauding employers, has lost her appeal against a jail sentence imposed for a large-scale fraud scheme in Toronto. The Ontario Court of Appeal recently upheld the decision, highlighting her entrenched pattern of dishonesty and the failure of previous lenient sentences to deter her criminal behavior.
Details of the Fraud Scheme
On February 2, 2024, Andrew pleaded guilty to one count of fraud over $5,000 for stealing more than $210,000 from Vertechs Design Inc., a small landscape architecture company where she managed payroll, bookkeeping, and vendor payments. According to court documents, the fraud occurred between April 2016 and January 2019 and involved sophisticated schemes and forgeries.
Key elements of the fraud include:
- Using an old corporate American Express card, which she was instructed to cancel, to make personal purchases totaling $39,646.24. These expenses covered items such as clothing, restaurant meals, spa treatments, concert tickets, and a holiday trip to Belize with her daughter.
- Paying off the credit card bills with cheques drawn from the company's bank account.
- Issuing 45 fraudulent payroll payments to herself, amounting to $171,072.88 after deductions. To conceal these transactions, she forged T4 slips that inflated other employees' incomes while reducing her own reported earnings.
Andrew made full restitution by repaying the stolen amount, using $150,000 gifted by her elderly mother and $60,000 from selling her cars and jewellery. Despite this, the court deemed a jail sentence necessary due to her extensive criminal record.
Lengthy Criminal History and Sentencing
Superior Court Justice Michael Code, in his September 2024 ruling, noted that Andrew's criminal record spans decades, with entries from 1980, 1984, 1993, 2012, and 2015. The latter two convictions were for similar fraud and theft offenses against former employers. In 2012, at age 53, she received a one-year conditional sentence and a restitution order of $35,070 for three counts of fraud over $5,000, which remains unpaid. Her 2015 conviction involved stealing $1,380 in cash, resulting in a $1,000 fine and one year of probation.
Justice Code emphasized that Andrew's pattern of crimes against employers persisted from 2009 to 2019, and previous conditional sentences failed to deter her. He stated, "There is a strong need for both specific deterrence and general deterrence in this case." Typically, such fraud warrants three to five years in prison, but due to her guilty plea and restitution, he sentenced her to two years less a day in jail. Additionally, he imposed a lifetime ban preventing her from having authority over another person's property, cash, or valuables.
Appeal Rejected by Ontario Court
Andrew appealed the sentence, citing health issues—including a stroke and high blood pressure—and the need to visit her 86-year-old mother in Winnipeg. However, the appeal panel, led by Justice Lois B. Roberts, rejected these arguments. The court affirmed that the sentencing judge properly considered her consistent and entrenched pattern of stealing from employers.
The appeal decision underscored the devastating impact of Andrew's fraud on her employers, who had young children, went into debt to purchase the company, and only achieved profitability after her departure. The court also noted that her previous sentences did not prevent recidivism; for instance, just 51 days after completing her conditional sentence in 2012, she began the fraud that led to her 2015 conviction, and two months after finishing probation for that crime, she started defrauding Vertechs.
In conclusion, the Ontario Court of Appeal's ruling sends a clear message about the consequences of repeated fraud, hoping that a jail sentence will finally end Andrew's cheating ways and serve as a deterrent to others.
