A soccer mom who defrauded Richmond Youth Soccer Association of more than $200,000 has been jailed for two years.
Debbie Judd siphoned off at least $204,070 between 1998 and 2003 by writing cheques to herself when she was treasurer of the non-profit, volunteer-run club.
The money was used to maintain her family's lifestyle and was not used to fund a gambling or drug addiction, like many similar cases in the past.
After Judge Patrick Chen passed sentence Monday morning at Richmond Provincial Court, a stunned-looking Judd turned and stared at her son before being led away to begin her prison term.
Judge Chen said that, "because of the aggravating circumstances of the case, the need for deterrence is more pressing.
"A fit sentence would at the high end sought by the Crown (three years)."
However, Chen acknowledged that Judd and her family had suffered humiliation in the community, forcing them to move to Alberta and that a great deal of time had elapsed since the fraud came to light in 2003.
He further recognized that Judd now has a seven-year-old child to look after and it was that factor that persuaded him to lean to the lower end of the Crown's requested two to three year recommendation.
She was also ordered to pay restitution of $204,070 to the club.
Before announcing his decision, Judge Chen recanted the chronology of how Judd was caught and the sorry tale unraveled.
He described how in 2003, the club had a number of cheques returned to them because there was insufficient funds in its account, while Judd controlled the finances.
A closer examination revealed a catalogue of missing receipts, incomplete information and cheques made out to Judd and her husband, who had no knowledge of any of his wife's stealing.
At the time, Judd claimed the cheques were re-imbursement for items she'd paid for herself.
But the club's bank account had been drained dry by Judd and by January of 2004, the RYSA kicked off a fraud investigation with the RCMP, which then embroiled itself in an "exhaustive forensic" probe, said the judge.
During the last year of her fraudulent activity in 2003, Judd managed to write 58 cheques to herself, totaling $77,000.
By the end of RCMP investigation, it was declared that a minimum of $204,070 had been taken by Judd over the five years of her being in charge of the club's money.
She managed to pull it off, Richmond Provincial Court heard, by duping the club's trusting co-members to co-sign blank cheques, which she then made out to her and her husband.
There was no mention of Judd using the money to fund a lavish lifestyle for her and her family.
Judge Chen, however, indicated that without the RYSA's money, the family would have been in serious debt.
Chen noted that, although Judd's scheme wasn't particularly sophisticated, he said she did create false documents and audits and she "tricked unsuspecting board members into signing cheques."
"There were many victims; this money was for the benefit of RYSA and its members and in some ways, the entire sporting community of Richmond was victimized," said Chen.
"The accused was only able to commit these offences because of the trust placed in her.
"The RYSA is a voluntary organization and was highly dependent on trust."
In her defense, Chen did take into account a number of factors in Judd's favour; such as the fact she was an otherwise law-abiding citizen with a history of volunteering in the community.
"She has the support of her family and friends in the community and her former employer has given her a letter of reference," said Chen.
"She has expressed remorse and it has been nine years since the offences took place."
Chen told the small courtroom - packed with members of the media, family and RYSA representatives - that concern had been expressed for the welfare of Judd's seven-year-old son, who was born after the allegations came to light, should his mother be jailed.
He added that Judd's family has been stigmatized in the community because of the fraud, including repeated insults directed at the older children.
Indeed, such was the humiliation, the family has had to up sticks to Calgary where they're still trying to carve out a new life.
Chen then went into detail of similar past cases, where volunteers have defrauded community organizations out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
However, in many of those cases, the perpetrator was committing the crime to feed an addiction of sorts.
Chen pointed out that such a motive was absent in the Judd case.
He added that this case was also distinguishable from frauds committed at a workplace, because an employer is usually protected by more strict checks and balances.
This, Chen said, placed Judd in a higher position of trust, because voluntary organizations, such as the RYSA, are much more vulnerable to fraud.
Referring to one of the victim impact statements, Chen said that many soccer balls, equipment and programs had been lost to the community because of the missing money. Money, it was said, that had taken a lot of work by volunteers to raise at concessions and tournaments.
In the same court last year, Judd's lawyer, Les Mackoff, told how this fraud was unusual because there was no mental illness or addictions to gambling, alcohol or drugs behind the theft.
Judd simply bought supplies with her own money on behalf of the club and then reimbursed herself without properly recording the transactions.
Over the years, Mackoff said, Judd was writing cheques to herself which far exceeded what she had spent and was able to continue the crude practice because RYSA had "no internal safeguards and no real oversight."
"She got in slowly and then got deeper and deeper and had no idea of the extent of the fraud," he said.
