A Prince George provincial court judge sentenced a 40-year-old woman to a year in jail less 62 days time served for fraud committed in Mackenzie and Prince George.
Allison Marjorie Gauthier's lawyer was seeking a conditional sentence for her, but in issuing a decision Tuesday, Judge Victor Galbraith agreed with the Crown prosecutor's position that allowing her to serve the time outside an institution would pose a risk of economic harm.
In reaching his conclusion, Galbraith noted Gauthier's previous record of similar offences and the fact she committed the acts in Prince George while out on bail for the Mackenzie charges.
On the Mackenzie counts, Gauthier pleaded guilty to obtaining $1,262 worth of merchandise from the Mackenzie Co-op and charging it to another person's account and on the same day depositing a worthless cheque for $4,875 into a bank account from which her sister subsequently withdrew $4,100. Both acts were committed on Oct. 13, 2012.
Then, on Aug. 24, Gauthier was among three people arrested when the RCMP's integrated road safety unit pulled over a vehicle in the Prince George area and found property alleged to have been fraudulently obtained.
Gauthier subsequently pleaded guilty to passing two bad cheques totalling $3,642 at Save-On grocery stores, while claiming to be representing an Indian band, and on the same day, pulling a similar fraud on Canadian Tire, where she said she represented Canfor while writing a bad cheque for $735.
As for the other two arrested Aug. 24, Corey George Chute, 37, was sentenced to 20 days in jail and one year probation for fraud under $5,000 on Oct. 17 and the charges against Janice Alana Gauthier, 27, remain before the court.
Likewise, charges against Shanna Elaine Gauthier, 46, from the Mackenzie incident also remain before the court.
