Four-year sentence for stealing $3.4 million to pay for opioid habit
Ruth Seguin, 57, stole from employer Lawrie Insurance
A former Dan Lawrie Insurance executive has been sentenced to four years in penitentiary for stealing over $3.4 million and blowing it on her opioid drug addiction.
Ruth Seguin, 57, the company’s former chief financial officer, was also given a fine equivalent to what she stole, and 20 years to pay it or face the possibility of going to jail for another five years if she could have paid it. During sentencing on Thursday, Sept. 26, Justice Marjoh Agro noted Seguin’s $3,000a-day drug habit, which included taking as many as 48 illegally obtained pills a day of Percocet and OxyContin. That’s in addition to the 100 pills (80 Percocet and 20 OxyContin) she was legally prescribed every 10 days.
The street value of one 80 mg pill of OxyContin is $80, according to police.
Seguin, who has diabetes and other ailments, and moves with the aid of a walker, cried and hugged family members in the courtroom before being led out to start serving her sentence.
Outside court, her lawyer, Andrew Confente, said Seguin’s destructive opioid addiction is a common story
Agro noted that in the civil case, Seguin said she had hoped external audits would uncover her fraud, but they never did so she continued, thinking by the time her crime was discovered, she’d be dead.
in the court system these days, involving once-contributing members of society who are suddenly dealing with opioid addictions, “usually arising out of an injury that they have suffered.”
“Too often, we’re seeing people resorting to illegal activities … to support the habit, and what we have in Ms. Seguin is an individual who had the ability, the means through her employer, to commit an offence to support her habit.”
Seguin’s fraud, which spanned five years from 2011 to 2016, went undetected despite company audits and financial checks, court heard. The fraud came to light in December 2016 when a bank branch contacted the insurance broker to say Seguin was cashing cheques made out to the company and was transferring money from the company account into her own.
Court heard Seguin attempted suicide around the time of the fraud discovery and was hospitalized. It also heard she was weaned off the opioids she became addicted to after a car accident in 1987, and has been clean since 2017.
Seguin gave a tear-filled apology to company owners Dan and Bob Lawrie at an earlier court appearance, saying they were like family to her. Neither owner was in court.
Confente told court the oncerespected employee’s guilt makes her unable to forgive herself, which concerns her doctors.
Agro said she was not making a restitution order for Seguin to repay Dan Lawrie the $3.4 million because a recent civil court judgment in which the company sued Seguin has already made such an order.
Agro noted that in the civil case, Seguin said she had hoped external audits would uncover her fraud, but they never did so she continued, thinking by the time her crime was discovered, she’d be dead.
“No doubt, her company and co-workers felt personally betrayed,” said Agro. “She was in a unique position of trust and, in her last five years, she breached that trust in the most egregious manner.”
Agro also noted Seguin was offered counselling for her addiction by her doctor but refused it for fear her employer would find out.
“While the addiction does offer some motivation (for committing the fraud), it in no way excuses it,” Agro said.
But the judge also noted that Seguin pleaded guilty in June at the earliest opportunity, showing her willingness to be held accountable. Agro also noted Seguin’s poor health, saying “any sentence will be difficult.”