RCMP charge former CAO accused of stealing over $500K from Manitoba municipality
Police make arrest after 2-year investigation into ex-Gilbert Plains official
A former chief administrative officer has been arrested and charged with fraud and theft after a two-year investigation into allegations she stole more than half a million dollars from the western Manitoba municipality she served, the RCMP says.
Amber Fisher, 40, was fired as a Gilbert Plains CAO in late 2022 after a forensic accounting report found she had transferred about $532,000 of the municipality's money to her bank account while in office.
The municipality sued her in 2023, accusing her of faking a cyber attack in an attempt to cover her tracks. Fisher didn't submit a statement of defence, and a default judgment ruled in the municipality's favour.
A Manitoba court ordered the seizure of her wages last fall.
The Mounties said Thursday the investigation was a joint effort by its Dauphin detachment and the RCMP's cyber and financial crime unit, involving numerous witnesses and the review of extensive financial records.
Fisher has been charged with fraud over $5,000, theft over $5,000 and use of proceeds knowing they had been obtained by the commission of an offence.
She's been released from custody with conditions, and is scheduled to appear in provincial court on March 18.