Ina Koe gets 2 years less a day for defrauding Fort McPherson of $400K
Hamlet's former finance director ordered to pay back the full amount to insurance company
Ina Koe has been sentenced to two years less a day in jail and ordered to pay back the nearly $400,000 she defrauded from the hamlet of Fort McPherson, N.W.T.
The sentence was handed down Thursday in N.W.T. territorial court in Fort McPherson.
Koe, a former finance director for the hamlet, pleaded guilty in May to defrauding the hamlet of $399,287.02. The judge ordered Koe to pay back that amount to the hamlet's insurance company.
She was also sentenced to two years of probation.
Crown lawyer Anne Piché said it's likely the largest case of known fraud against a hamlet in the N.W.T. She said asking for a restitution order was appropriate.
"It is a lot of money but the message has to be sent that crime does not pay," she said.
"She is a person who has been employed in the past and she is still young. There is some possibility she will earn money in the future and pay at least some of the money she took."
Koe was originally charged with two counts of fraud over $5,000 amounting to $424,932.59 and one count of breach of public trust. In May, Koe reserved her pleas for the second fraud charge and the breach of public trust. The Crown has stayed those charges.
RCMP began investigating financial irregularities in the hamlet's finances in March 2013, following a forensic audit.
Koe was charged with fraud in June 2015 and a warrant was issued for her arrest after she failed to appear in court in December.
Whitehorse RCMP took her into custody in February.
with files from Kate Kyle