‘She made poor choices’
Former film festival head gets house arrest for stealing from organization
A woman who stole thousands of dollars from a popular local film festival while she served as its executive director has been given a fourmonth conditional sentence and ordered to pay back the money.
Janelle Cynthia Hickey of St. John’s was sentenced Friday following a hearing at provincial court.
The 29-year-old pleaded guilty to theft under $5,000. Fraud-related charges were withdrawn.
Between Nov. 1, 2012, and Aug. 30, 2013, while Hickey headed the Nickel Independent Film Festival and had access to the organization’s account, she overpaid herself $8,729.88 in 10 separate transactions. Before leaving the organization in 2013, she deposited $5,900 back into the festival’s account, leaving $2,829.88 left unpaid.
“I am absolutely humiliated and embarrassed,” Hickey said before being sentenced.
“But most importantly, to my family, the organization and to filmmakers, I’m very, very sorry.”
In a victim impact statement read in court by Crown prosecutor Shawn Patten, the festival’s present executive director, Melissa Carrera, said there was more than one victim of Hickey’s actions.
“Not only were we, the Nickel, financially crippled as an organization, our board of directors have been directly distressed as they hold the fiduciary responsibilities of the many accounts we now have in arrears,” Carrera said.
She said government and taxpayers, who support the arts, have also been affected because donations and grants, which were intended to encourage cultural heritage and expand the film industry, were instead used in an inappropriate and non-related way.
“As a result of this impropriety, our funders have lost faith in an organization that has existed in trust for 15 years,” said Carrera, who added that they struggle to regain that faith and to keep the festival alive.
Carrera said the most important victims have been the emerging filmmakers in the province.
“The Nickel provides a venue for these artists to display their works, develop their craft, network with establish filmmakers and industry professionals and have the experience of sharing their work with an audience,” she said. “It’s why the Nickel was created, it’s why the Nickel has thrived and it’s why our board and staff continue to fight to keep the festival going.”
She said that after Hickey left, the charitable organization had to scale down its operations. The executive director’s position is now part-time.
“We may never fully recover from the actions of someone who was trusted to push the organization further,” Carrera said.
For the trouble Hickey has caused, Patten suggested she get a five- to six-month conditional sentence, noting it was a breach of trust and there were multiple transactions.
“She had access to the chequebook and took advantage of it,” Patten said.
However, he noted Hickey is still a young woman with no criminal record.
“I don’t think she’s a threat to the community,” Patten said. “She made poor choices.”
Defence lawyer Steven Orr said Hickey has taken responsibility for her actions and is extremely remorseful, and that when it came to some of the reporting (of finances), “She didn’t know what she was doing.
“She is young, trying to get a job and wants to move on with her life.”
In rendering her decision on sentencing, Judge Jacqueline Brazil said the fact Hickey made 10 separate transactions indicated the theft was deliberate.
“It puts it into another level of dishonesty,” she said. “It wasn’t a one-time effort.”
Brazil said there was no explanation given as to why Hickey stole the money, so she can assume it was because Hickey was experiencing difficult financial times.
“But lots of people go through hard times,” the judge said. “They don’t steal from their employer.”
The sentence included one year’s probation with conditions that she pay back the money she stole and that she stay away from the festival’s premises.
“Whether it was a four-, five- or six-month conditional sentence,” Brazil said, “this offence will follow Miss Hickey around for a while.”