‘Mommy makes fake money,’ boy tells police

Langford woman pleads guilty to counterfeiting charges; even her son knew what she was up to, court hears

“Mommy makes fake money.”

Even the child of a Langford woman who pleaded guilty to a raft of counterfeiting charges knew what she was up to, the Crown told Victoria provincial court at a sentencing hearing on Tuesday.

The little boy made the statement after he woke up and saw an RCMP officer searching the basement suite of his mother, Deborah Lynne Thomas, in November 2015, said prosecutor Louisa Winn.

Thomas, 34, has pleaded guilty to 27 charges that consolidate the 55 times Thomas passed counterfeit money in the West Shore and Victoria, and include breaches of her bail conditions and two charges of obstructing justice.

“This is the case of an adult offender, who despite all the middle-class comfort and stability of her upbringing, has been driven by her anti-social tendencies and by her untreated mental illness in all of these offences,” Winn told Judge Loretta Chaperon as Thomas’s parents, both retired school teachers, looked on from the front row of the courtroom. Thomas’s two young sons now live with her parents.

Thomas first came to the attention of police in 2015 as a prolific nuisance counterfeit passer in the West Shore, Winn said. Thomas passed fake bills at A&W, Starbucks, Tim Hortons, Western Foods, Shoppers Drug Mart, Cineplex, McDonald’s, 7-Eleven and a number of liquor stores. She also fed counterfeit money into a Superstore kiosk four times.

Thomas took advantage of busy or inexperienced cashiers, using fake $50 and $100 bank notes to buy an item of small value and get change, Winn said.

Later, managers sorting through cash would find the fake money. Each counterfeit episode — all 55 of them — required a full police investigation, she said.

During a search of Thomas’s apartment on Nov. 25, 2015, police found $61,230 in counterfeit Canadian bills and $3,640 in U.S. bills. Police noted that the apartment was shabby and that there appeared to be no fresh food for the children.

Thomas was arrested in December 2015 and released on surety bail in April 2016. Her surety asked to be relieved of her obligations and a warrant was issued for Thomas’s arrest.

However, Thomas remained at large and continued to make and pass counterfeit bills in the spring and summer of 2016, said Winn. In August 2016, she used fake money eight times at stores in downtown Victoria.

“In each case, she gets a huge chunk of change back,” said Winn. “It’s an escalation. The police can barely keep up with [the investigations].”

In the late summer of 2016, police discovered Thomas and her partner, Andrew Charles, had moved into the home of a disabled man in Oak Bay. They took over his living room and essentially confined him to his own bedroom, said Winn.

Police obtained a second search warrant for this apartment and found counterfeit money totalling $7,970 and the tools for making it. Thomas was arrested at the apartment.

In March 2017, Thomas was released on bail to attend Peardonville House treatment centre. When her driver stopped at Tim Hortons for a coffee, Thomas said she wanted to have a cigarette. Instead, she ran away and lived in the woods with Charles until July 2017.

Thomas also pleaded guilty to two charges of obstructing justice by giving police a false name.

The judge said she was very concerned that the pre-sentence report had been prepared by a probation officer on the basis of one count of making counterfeit money. Chaperon adjourned the sentencing hearing until a new report can be prepared.

“There’s an ocean of difference between one count and 27 counts,” said Chaperon, who wants the report to consider all the offences and the time period in which they were committed.

The pre-sentence report called the offences a “survival strategy.” The report accepts Thomas’s statement that she made counterfeit money to support her children and gain independence from her parents.

“But she’s never buying a bag of groceries,” said Winn, adding that even at Superstore, Thomas bought snacks for herself and Charles.

Chaperon said she is considering a two-year probation order and a no-contact order with Charles.

“If she has any hope of getting out of the drug subculture, getting her children back and getting on the road to recovery, he is not going to be an asset,” said the judge. “If she doesn’t get her act together, she’s never going to get her kids back.”