Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Jun 20/01) - A former Inuvik health and social services employee and her former boyfriend are facing fraud charges, reports the RCMP.
A 37-year-old woman now living in Medicine Hat, Alta., faces two counts of fraud over $5,000. A 31-year-old man living in Edmonton who had a relationship with the woman while she was working in the department's Inuvik regional office, is facing one count of the same charge.
The charges were laid following approximately two months of investigation by the commercial crime section of RCMP's G division. RCMP investigators started looking into the matter following an internal audit by the government.
"It was in regards to cheques for false medical claims," said Const. Scott MacPherson of the commercial crime unit. McPherson said charges were laid June 5.
Both accused are scheduled to make their first court appearance on the charges in Yellowknife July 24.
The alleged fraud is believed to have occurred between March and July 1996, when the woman worked as a health insurance specialist for the department.
