Edmonton woman sentenced to 18 months in jail for defrauding seniors of nearly $180,000

An Edmonton woman will serve 18 months in jail after spending four years defrauding Old Age Security and Canada Pension Plan clients of $179,689. Bonnie Lo, 45, worked for Service Canada as a payment services officer for almost 10 years.

Edmonton woman sentenced to 18 months in jail for defrauding seniors of nearly $180,000 Bonnie Lo worked for Service Canada as a payment services officer for almost 10 years An Edmonton woman will serve 18 months in jail after pleading guilty to defrauding Old Age Security and Canada Pension Plan clients of $179,689 during a four-year period. Bonnie Lo, 45, will also need to serve 12 months of probation after her jail time.

Lo looked shaken as Justice Kathryn Oviatt of the Court of King’s Bench sentenced her on Thursday for fraud and breach of trust by a public officer. “The fraud involved abuse of a position of trust. Ms. Lo held a position of trust as an employee of the Government of Canada to distribute public funds to elderly Canadians,” Oviatt said.

“She was entrusted with secure access to government databases, and she repeatedly abused that trust by stealing public funds intended for vulnerable people.” Lo worked for the Edmonton branch of Service Canada as a payment services officer for almost 10 years, according to an agreed statement of facts. She resigned in early 2017 for personal reasons.

In August 2018, a complaint was made by a CPP/OAS client who attempted to cash CPP cheques from 2012 to 2013, and found that several cheques had already been redeemed. Service Canada’s Integrity Services Branch launched an investigation and found hundreds of CPP and OAS payments had been reissued and redirected to a bank account belonging to Lo. The investigation found Lo redirected 176 payments into her bank account between Oct. 29, 2012 and Dec. 20, 2016 Factors behind sentencing Oviatt noted several mitigating factors in the case which included Lo entering a guilty plea.

The plea avoided the need for witnesses to testify during a trial. Other factors taken into account for the sentencing include Lo struggling with a troubled childhood and a life marked by mental health diagnoses and a gambling addiction. However Oviatt noted there were aggravating factors against Lo, ranging from the repeated nature of the offences, the planning and sophistication required to carry them out, the magnitude of financial loss, a prior conviction for similar conduct and ultimately her abusing her position of trust.