Bookkeeper sentenced to 15 months for stealing $292,000 from community club

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This article was published 15/11/2017 (2894 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A volunteer-run community centre nearly bankrupted by a thieving bookkeeper is trying to rebuild trust in the Interlake.

The St. Andrews Community Club has yet to be paid back any of the stolen money its former bookkeeper was jailed for stealing, and the board suspects there may be additional funds missing, club president Rob Ataman said Wednesday,

Sharon Wasny, 54, was sentenced this week to 15 months in jail for stealing $292,000 from the community club over seven years. The Selkirk accountant started volunteering as a bookkeeper for the club in 2003, and began stealing from it in 2005. She resigned in 2012, the same year her thefts were discovered, court heard.

“I’m fairly confident that we’re going to receive what was missing from Ms. Wasny. With that said, we know there’s a lot more money missing, it’s just we don’t know exactly what we’re going to do at this point to investigate it,” said Ataman, adding decisions haven’t been made about whether to pay for another in-depth, independent audit or “not throw any more good money after bad.”

Wasny wrote 60 cheques from the club’s bank account to pay off her credit card, and used a credit card belonging to the community centre for personal purchases. She kept the club’s financial records in her office in Selkirk and made them appear as though the credit payments were for club vendors and maintenance. Instead, she was buying “luxury” items, including plane tickets to Vancouver, electronics and jewelry, and was using the club’s money to pay for her veterinarian and optician bills.

“Her deception was sophisticated,” provincial court Judge Timothy Preston said as he sentenced Wasny on Tuesday. The Crown had asked for a two-year sentence, while Wasny’s defence lawyer asked for one year.

“For over seven years, she was basically supporting her business and personal life with the club’s money. The impact of her theft on the club was and is devastating,” the judge said, adding Wasny appeared to be motivated by greed since there was no evidence she suffered from an addiction.

“Ms. Wasny chose to be hostile to the frustrated board members’ efforts to investigate and try to remedy the situation. She told the independent auditor hired by the board in 2012 and 2013 that it was, quote ‘none of his business.’ She was even able to intercept letters that the auditor wrote to the board expressing his inability to complete the audit due to her non-co-operation,” Preston said.

Before Wasny’s thefts were uncovered, with money bleeding from the community club with no explanation, the club’s board was told their electricity would be shut off over unpaid bills, Ataman said. User fees were increased from $25 to $125 per person, per sport, with distrust festering in the community.

“Never mind that she took money that people paid, you had to ask the people for more money to keep the doors open,” he said.

Wasny apologized in court Tuesday and said she never meant to hurt anyone.

“I also understand that no amount of apologies will erase what has been done, or hurt caused to so many. I have carried this weight on my shoulders for years, and I wish I had the bravery to come forth to the board and be honest about my actions,” she said.

She asked the judge to consider imposing a punishment that would allow her to continue to care for her terminally ill husband. Preston decided jail time was necessary.

Ataman, who is also a councillor for the R.M. of St. Andrews, said he accepts the jail sentence and wants to work with the community toward healing and continued participation at the community centre, which houses a hockey rink, runs recreation programs and hosts events.

“It’s relieving to the board and the volunteers now that we can explain what we were up to for so long,” Ataman said, noting the early stages of a fraud investigation that began five years ago had to be kept under wraps.

“Now that everything’s out in the open, we’re probably going to put something out in the next month explaining to people what the board has gone through to protect the community and the community club itself.”

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @thatkatiemay