Woman charged with fine option fraud on reserve

SASKATOON — A Big River First Nation employee faces more than 100 fraud-related charges for alleged wrongdoing while co-ordinating a fine option program on the reserve.

RCMP laid the charges after interviewing people who said they paid a fee at the band office instead of working community service hours to pay off fines they owed in provincial court.

“It’s kind of a little different. I’ve never heard of this before,” RCMP Sgt. Lyle Korczak said.

Anyone who receives a fine in provincial court can either pay it or choose to work it off through hours of community service.

Police believe people who chose the latter would pay the band’s fine options coordinator a small fee and the hours they owed would be erased from the books.

The provincial court reported the possible fraud to police in July 2013, at which point the First Nation suspended the worker, Korczak said.

Sylvia Grace Joseph, 46, faces 108 charges. They are 28 counts of forgery, 17 counts of fraud upon government, 31 counts of using a forged document and 32 counts of falsifying books and documents.

Joseph did not handle any of the band’s money and is not suspected of any fraudulent activity in her work as the band’s receptionist, said Derek Klein, administrator of the Big River First Nation.

The band initially suspended her last year when the investigation began, then brought her back to work because police hadn’t laid any charges, he said. When police charged her this week, the band suspended her again.

The provincial government subcontracts the fine option program to the First Nation to make it more convenient for people to report their community service hours and pay their fines, Klein said.

If they fail to pay fines or work their hours, they can end up in jail.

The “in-depth” investigation involved interviewing numerous people, although police wouldn’t say how many.

“We probably didn’t hit on all of them, just the people who came forward,” Korczak said.

The alleged offences happened between January 2012 and July 2013, he said.

Joseph was released from custody after her arrest and she is scheduled to make her first court appearance on Jan. 13 in Big River.