Year in jail for stealing $100K from employer

A Winnipeg woman who pilfered more than $100,000 from her employer in less than a year claimed she turned to crime to help her troubled son get his painting business off the ground.

That misguided motive wasn’t enough to sway a judge from sentencing 60-year-old Maureen Galbraith to one year in jail.

“The explanation offered does not mitigate your conduct,” provincial court Judge Julie Frederickson told Galbraith at her recent sentencing.

“Many people have difficulties, many people have children suffering from addictions … but the vast majority of people do not turn to deliberate criminal conduct,” Frederickson said.

“This was not a mistake, this was not a lapse in judgment … it was deliberate acts over several months.”

Defence lawyer Ethan Pollock had urged Frederickson to sentence Galbraith to 18 months of house arrest, which would allow her to keep working and begin to repay her former employer, a custom machinery manufacturer, for whom she was responsible for overseeing customer payments.

“My client wants to pay them back, but it is going to take a lot of time and it is going to take a lot of effort,” Pollock said.

Court heard client payments to the company were made through a third-party bill payment service and deposited directly into the company’s bank account.

Galbraith replaced her employer’s banking information with her own and over nine months, beginning in February 2023, siphoned $105,000 in customer payments into her own account.

“So she is not having to do any of the dirty work as it relates to taking the money out directly from her employer’s account,” said Crown attorney Samir Hassan.

“It’s a little more of a devious process… This wasn’t a situation where she was just yanking the money out of the petty cash. There was clearly a more sophisticated element of deception.”

Pollock said Galbraith gave the majority of the stolen money to her son, who had struggled with addictions.

An electronic paper trail showed Galbraith transferred 11 customer payments totalling $25,000 to a painting company Pollock identified as belonging to her son.

Another $57,000 was transferred to different bank accounts and quickly withdrawn.

“The money was not sitting around,” Hassan said.

“She’s getting, it’s hot in the hand and it’s going out.”

A pre-sentence report prepared for court said Galbraith had a troubled upbringing and a history of abusive relationships and addictions. She has been sober for 20 years.

Galbraith said she spent all of her savings helping her son “reach a level of stability” and helping a second adult child through a period of unemployment.

Court heard Galbraith’s former employer feels bad for his staff because he now views everyone with suspicion.

“I know I changed him as a person and I am forever sorry for that,” Galbraith said.

“He doesn’t deserve that.”

Frederickson sentenced Galbraith to an additional two years of supervised probation and ordered her to pay full restitution to her former employer.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca