A former Canada Post employee has been sentenced to 28 months in custody for her role in defrauding the Crown corporation of more than $325,000 over a five-year period.
Susan Boyer, who worked at the North Battleford Post Office in Saskatchewan, was sentenced on Jan. 8 for defrauding Canada Post to the tune $325,000 from January 2011 to November 2015.
According to the sentencing submission, Boyer, who was responsible for overseeing the post office’s finances as well as preparing its bank deposits, defrauded the post office through 28 transactions, each of which were paid by cheque by local businesses that used Canada Post to dispatch mailings to their customers.
The average amount of the 28 transactions was more than $11,000 and included:
- six transactions in 2011 that totalled more than $68,000;
- eight transactions the following year that totalled more than $73,000;
- five transactions in 2013 that totalled more than $68,000;
- six transactions in 2014 that totalled more than $69,000; and
- three transactions in 2015 that totalled more than $45,000.
The total amount defrauded by Boyer was $325,597.
CONCEALING THE TRANSACTIONS
Boyer concealed the transactions—making hand-written receipts for the businesses—so no payments were recorded in Canada Post’s point-of-sale system.
Hand-written receipts go against Canada Post’s protocol, and for obvious reasons.
According to the sentencing submission, Boyer exchanged the businesses’ cheques for cash from other transactions when preparing the post office’s bank deposits. She then removed the cash from the deposits and replaced it with the aforementioned cheques.
Some of the transactions were also entered as postage stamp sales, allowing Boyer additional stamp inventory that she could sell—again off the books—to stamp dealers looking for large bulk quantities.
SERVING THE SENTENCE
A request was made for Boyer to serve her sentence at the Okimaw Ohci Healing Lodge, a minimum/medium-security facility for women in Maple Creek, Sask. She has also been ordered to pay restitution for the full amount of $325,597.