P.E.I. couple sentenced to jail time for $200K welfare fraud

A P.E.I. couple has been sentenced to jail time for defrauding the province of close to $200,000 in social assistance payments.

P.E.I. Supreme Court in Charlottetown heard Friday that Sharon Mercer, 63, and Patrick McGough, 57, claimed to need social assistance to pay rent, but actually owned their own home.

The couple received social assistance for 15 years — from April 2002 to April 2017 — to help pay rent on their Queens County home.

Sent in forged receipts 

But during a routine audit close to two years ago, officials discovered the couple owned the house, but had continued receiving social assistance for rent. 

The couple had moved into the house in 2002 and made payments to the owner toward the purchase of the home, which they paid off in 2008 or 2009.

However, Mercer continued to send in fake rent receipts, forging the signature of the former owner.

When police interviewed the couple, they admitted to the fake receipts. Mercer told police she didn't tell social services they had paid off the house because they didn't want to lose their benefits.

In the agreed statement of facts presented in court, McGough described he and Mercer as "down and out."

McGough had been unable to work for a time due to a disability. Mercer suffers seizures, memory loss and mental-health issues and is unemployed. 

They both pleaded guilty to fraud-related charges.

'Tragic figures'

The province estimates the fraud at $197,000.

Supreme Court Justice Jacqueline Matheson said she recognized the couple's struggles with money and their health issues — she called them "tragic figures."

But she said they had "committed a serious fraud against the people of P.E.I."

She ordered them to pay back the province more than $100,000 and sentenced them each to three months in jail. McGough will be allowed to serve his time on weekends so he can keep his job. 

More P.E.I. news