The B.C. Court of Appeal has upheld a provincial court judge's decision to sentence a woman to two years in jail for stealing more than $350,000 from her employer while working as an office manager in Prince George.
In part, counsel for Debra Velma Pentilla, 65, argued the sentencing judge erred in principle by concluding a gambling addiction could never be treated as a mitigating circumstance in a case of this kind.
But in a decision issued Friday, a three-judge panel found otherwise. While a judge may find that a gambling addiction may impair an offender's decision-making process and so reduce their moral culpability, the one hearing Penttila's case found she was able to control her gambling, the panel noted.
The panel also found that while the judge committed other errors in principle, none had a material impact on the sentence. Moreover, the panel found the sentence was not demonstrably unfit.
Pentilla was issued the terms in July 2019 on a count of fraud over $5,000. Between November 2004 and February 2011, she used her co-signing authority to alter 166 cheques adding up to $362,740 to make them payable to herself, then spent most of the money on gambling.
The fraud lasted until year-end accounts had to be reconciled in early 2011. Penttila was fired when the fraud was uncovered.
Charges were not sworn until February 2017 because of the time it took for the company to determine the extent of the loss and for the RCMP to gather the evidence in a way that was admissible to the court.
Penttila pleaded guilty six days before a trial on the matter was to start. Crown had been seeking three years but the judge, Michael Gray, took into account Penttila's age and health issues in deciding on two years.
