Lethbridge Courthouse. (Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

Lethbridge woman gets one year for defrauding employer out of $46K

Aug 26, 2021 | 3:06 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – A Lethbridge woman was sentenced Thursday after repeatedly committing fraud at her place of work.

Melanie Dawn Vaillancourt was convicted of one count of fraud over $5,000 by Justice Kristin Ailsby in Lethbridge Provincial Court.

She worked at King of Trade for a period of approximately 13 years. The first 10 were as a full-time employee, but after leaving for about half a year, she was re-hired as a part-time cashier for two years. It was during her second stint with the company that the offences occurred.

Between April 2017 and December 2018, Vaillancourt would steal cash from a cash register and a safe, steal merchandise, create imaginary sellers, and manipulate the inventory system so incoming items would not be registered.

LPS estimated the combined value of all of this at just over $46,000.

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The judge believed that it was even worse that this occurred at King of Trade given its “modern pawnshop” model that carried both new items and a collection of second-hand items that were sold to the store by members of the public.

Vaillancourt would be responsible for determining the value of the goods being sold and for entering them into the inventory system, having an in-depth understanding of every facet of the business’ operations.

It was said that no products or inventory were off-limits – there were several occasions in which she had stolen things like toilet paper, energy drinks, garbage bags, movies, and video games.

According to Justice Ailsby, Vaillancourt was in a position of trust, not only as a long-time employee but as someone who was a valued family friend of the store’s owner.

The fraudulent activity was so severe that the owner nearly had to declare bankruptcy. The judge highlighted the importance of small businesses to Alberta’s economy and how incidents like this create an air of distrust between employers and employees.

Ingrid Hess, Vaillancourt’s defense counsel, argued that a conditional sentence order with no period of incarceration would be appropriate given several factors in her client’s life such as having to be the sole breadwinner for a family with a low income that included a child, a history of bad relationships, and an opioid dependency during the time of the offences.

Ailsby did not buy the low-income argument as Vaillancourt had a second part-time job as a receptionist. She estimated that, between both jobs and the value of the stolen goods over a 21-month period, Vaillancourt pulled in approximately $4,800 per month.

Some of the stolen items were returned, but Vaillancourt was unable to otherwise pay the company back.

In the end, Ailsby ruled that a conditional sentence order would not be appropriate given the gravity of the offence. She sentenced Vaillancourt to 12 months in jail to be followed by 18 months of probation.