Woman jailed for defrauding mother

Sister discovered missing money

A Victoria woman who stole more than $300,000 from her elderly mother’s bank account will spend the next 30 months in prison.

Laurie Louise Reynolds, 63, pleaded guilty to defrauding her mother of the money between October 2009 and August 2013. As he passed sentence March 11 in Victoria provincial court, Judge Roger Cutler said the 30-month sentence will send a clear message that the courts and the community must protect vulnerable individuals from unscrupulous and sinister individuals.

“Vulnerable elderly people in our community need to be protected from such malevolent conduct,” Cutler said. “They are entitled in their last days to feel comfortable that they and their assets are secure, particularly from those who they trust.”

Reynolds was arrested in 2013 after her sister discovered a significant amount of money missing from her mother’s bank account.

Cutler said Reynolds’ scheme was not particularly sophisticated. All she needed was a vulnerable elderly person who was wealthy, relied on her and, most importantly, trusted her.

Reynolds surreptitiously arranged access to her mother’s bank account. Her mother, Sheila Reynolds, was in her early 80s when the fraud occurred.

She had authorized her daughter to pay her bills.

When Reynolds took over the banking, she instructed the bank to stop sending statements to her mother. Her mother had no idea Reynolds was taking her money. She had complete trust in her daughter, said the judge.

In the beginning, Reynolds transferred small amounts, rarely more than $ 200 in a single transaction, totalling about $1,000 a month. But the amounts gradually increased to transfers of $500, totalling several thousand dollars a month.

By the time Reynolds was arrested, she was regularly transferring $2,000 in a single transaction, with the transfers totalling $10,000 a month.

Most of the money was withdrawn as cash.

The court heard evidence that Reynolds was using the money to support an expensive drug habit and lavish lifestyle. Although she initially told police she was addicted to cocaine during the four-year period, she denied it in court, testifying she had a prescription painkiller addiction that cost $500 a day.

Reynolds testified that she spent money for her mother’s care.

But of the $300,000 stolen from the bank account, no more than $50,000 was spent on her mother, Cutler found.

“The receipts submitted by the accused for expenditures to benefit the victim were entirely inadequate to explain or justify the accused’s exorbitant spending,” he said.

Reynolds was evasive, defensive and argumentative when she gave her evidence, Cutler said.

While Sheila Reynolds died just before sentencing, Cutler was able to watch a video statement she made to police after the theft was discovered.

“The video shows the victim in complete dismay, and in her frail state she simply states: ‘It’s unbelievable,’ ” Cutler said.

Soon after, she was admitted to hospital with heart problems related to stress.

Cutler found the aggravating facts in the case to include abuse of trust, the impact on the victim and the amount of money that was stolen.