A former Sundre licensed practical nurse who stole more than $41,000 while treasurer of the hospital's staff club should have been sentenced to jail instead of receiving house arrest, the Alberta Court of Appeal said last week.Lesley Cassidy pleaded guilty in Didsbury provincial court in September 2010 to a charge of theft over $5,000 and fraud. Judge J. Shriar handed her a 15-month conditional sentence, which included 10 months of 24-hour-a-day house arrest followed by five months supervision by probation officials.The Crown had asked that the accused be sentenced to 12 months jail.Between 2004 and 2009, Cassidy forged 160 cheques totalling $41,643.01 on the club's account. The hospital staff club is a private organization wholly separate from the Sundre Hospital and Care Centre.Cassidy's crimes were discovered when the president of the club discovered an invoice containing charges for personal items for the accused, court heard.In sentencing the accused, Judge Shriar said, ìAt the time these offences commenced she (accused) was having difficulty meeting her financial obligations. These crimes were financially motivated.îLast week, the Alberta Court of Appeal allowed a Crown appeal of the conditional sentence.In a written decision, Justices Myra Bielby, Patricia Rowbotham and Elizabeth McFadyen said, in part, ìWhile the sentencing judge stated that deterrence and denunciation were primary, this conditional sentence was not proportional to others imposed in similar situations.ìWe conclude that the imposition of a conditional sentence in this situation resulted from an error in principle and the overemphasis of the goal of rehabilitation in the face of a stated need for denunciation and deterrence.ìThe Crown asked for a sentence of 12 months incarceration. That would have been appropriate if imposed by the sentencing judge.îHowever, the justices added that ìgiven the delay in bringing on this Crown appealî and given the fact the accused has successfully served eight months of her conditional sentence, the Appeal Court would not impose a jail sentence.Instead, the justices placed a further condition on Cassidy's conditional sentence, specifically that she not hold a position involving the control of money belonging to others during the period of her sentence.Cassidy now lives in B.C.
