A 65-year-old saleswoman who helped herself to the accounts of a North Vancouver promotions company has been sent to jail for nine months.
Judge John Milne handed the sentence to Agnes Gray Gartner (also known as Nancy Gartner) in North Vancouver provincial court April 7 after Gartner pleaded guilty to two charges of fraud over $5,000.
In handing down his sentence, Milne described how Gartner worked for eight years for a North Vancouver company, Encore Exhibitions, which puts on large trade shows in the Lower Mainland.
Gartner made a good salary, earning amounts ranging from $95,000 to $117,000 annually, according the judge.
But between January 2012 and May 2014, Gartner – who had access to company accounts – also helped herself to Encore’s money, taking $147,000 and depositing it in her personal bank account in 102 separate transactions.
Undetected, Gartner paid back all but about $27,000 of that money to Encore’s account. Her actions were discovered only after she was fired in May 2014.
Milne noted Gartner had no mental health or addictions issues and didn’t come from a deprived or unstable background.
She took the money because “she felt it was owing to her,” he said. “She felt entitled to the money.”
But the judge noted that version of events “is unsupported by the evidence.”
According to victim impact statements entered in the case, the North Vancouver couple who own the company felt angry and betrayed when they discovered the fraud, said Milne.
“They feel their reputation in the community has suffered,” he said.
Milne added Gartner was in a position of trust, and it is likely she would have continued to help herself to the accounts if she had kept her job. He noted Gartner also has a previous conviction for fraud over $5,000.
Milne rejected a request from Gartner’s defence lawyer for a conditional sentence that would allow her to serve her sentence under house arrest, saying that would not send a strong enough message of denunciation and deterrence.
Instead, he sent Gartner to jail and ordered that she pay back the remaining amount of about $27,000.
Following the sentence, a verbal altercation broke out in the gallery of the court between Gartner’s husband and the owners of Encore, who were both present for the sentencing. Sheriffs quickly escorted everyone from the courthouse.
