An ex-Summerland municipal employee attached to the local RCMP detachment won't spend time behind bars after pleading guilty to defrauding her employers.
Tracey Ann Mcevoy, 35, appeared in Penticton Provincial Court on Oct. 7 where counsel presented a joint submission to the judge.
Mcevoy worked for the Summerland RCMP detachment as a municipal worker until 2022, when she left to work at the Penticton detachment.
After she left, it was discovered that she had not only failed to work her required hours, but she had also forged the signature of her RCMP supervisor.
There were 32 shifts that Mcevoy had claimed to worked, but were unsubstantiated.
During the investigation into the falsified records and unworked hours, the Penticton RCMP found that Mcevoy had also kept the credit card she was entrusted with as part of her employment, and continued to use it after leaving Summerland.
The employment fraud added up to $8,142.40, while the unauthorized credit card purchases exceeded $43,896.51.
"I can say that a breach of trust, especially when it involves defrauding an employer, whether the police or the District of Summerland, cuts deep into the fabric of our community," said the judge. "These acts are more than just financial crimes; they are the breaches of loyalty, they're breaches of integrity, they corrode the essential trust between employers, employees in public institutions, especially ones like the RCMP, and the citizens of Summerland."
The judge reviewed the victim impact statement provided by the District of Summerland and the case provided by both Crown and defence before agreeing to the joint submission.
In addition to the guilty plea, the other factors supporting the conditional sentence order include her lack of a previous criminal record and the fact that she fully paid back restitution for the money she defrauded from her employers.
The judge noted that the planning and continued nature of the fraud was an aggravating factor, as was the breach of trust inherent in her actions.
The first six months will be under house arrest, followed by 10 months under a curfew and the last two months a compulsory condition to report to her release supervisor.
