Woman who defrauded Fort Smith, N.W.T., company sentenced to house arrest, fine

A former employee of a Fort Smith, N.W.T., construction company will spend nearly two years under house arrest and more than 17 years paying off a fine for defrauding her former employer out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Dorreen Vogt, 47, was sentenced Monday in the N.W.T. Supreme Court. From January to the end of October 2019, Vogt made 111 fraudulent transfers, issuing cheques and electronic money transfers from the business to herself and others she knew. 

Vogt was working as a bookkeeper for the Fort Smith construction company at the time, a role that gave her access to its bank accounts.

After about 10 months, the owner of the company, who is also Vogt's uncle, found there was very little money left in the accounts, discovered the fraud and fired Vogt. 

Crown prosecutor Erin Carley told the court that the small construction business suffered a significant loss as a result. 

Defence lawyer Gary Smith said that Vogt's crimes were fuelled by addiction. 

Vogt suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease — a lung condition that can make it difficult for her to breathe —and psoriatic arthritis that affects her skin and joints. The court heard that Vogt has been hospitalized five times since March. 

Smith said Vogt became addicted to prescription painkillers, and later, cocaine. 

"It was not fuelled by greed, she has nothing to show for any of this," he said. 

He also told the court that Vogt has been clean and sober for seven months. 

Conditional sentence 

Justice Sheila MacPherson accepted the sentence recommended by both Smith and Carley. 

The lawyers agreed that a conditional sentence, sometimes called house arrest, would allow Vogt to care for her children. She has three children aged 14, 15 and 25. For the teenagers, Vogt is often the sole caretaker. 

A sentence served in the community also allows Vogt to make payments to the victim. 

She's ordered to pay $31,795, the amount she personally gained from her fraudulent payments.  

Vogt currently receives $900 per month in disability payments in addition to a small sum in child tax benefits. Based on her income, the judge accepted that for her to repay the whole sum of what she defrauded the company — $154,200 — would not be realistic. 

"Needless to say her means are very modest," MacPherson said in her decision. 

Vogt is ordered to pay off the fine in $150 installments, every month for the next 17 years, eight months. 

For the first year of her conditional sentence, Vogt will be required to spend 24 hours per day in her home in Fort Fitzgerald, Alta., or her mother's home in Edmonton, with exceptions for medical emergencies, taking her children to and from school, appointments with advanced permission from her supervisor, and for three hours once a week "to obtain the necessities of life".

For the next six months, she'll have a curfew of 6 p.m. to 10 a.m. with the same conditions, and for the final six months her curfew will be shortened to 10 p.m. to 10 a.m.

Vogt will also be prohibited for three years from serving in a role where she has access to bank accounts. MacPherson said she would have lessened that timeframe if not for a prior conviction of a similar crime — false pretenses — in 2009. The court did not hear the circumstances of that offence, only that Vogt served an 18-month conditional sentence and paid restitution. 

MacPherson commended Vogt for her sobriety and gave her credit for pleading guilty in October. The case was scheduled for a three-week trial and Vogt's plea saved the court significant time and resources. 

"I wish you the best of luck," MacPherson said to Vogt. "I hope you're able to get your life back on track."