SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A tearful Yellowknife woman who stole more than $180,000 from her employer was sentenced to 17 months in jail on Friday in territorial court.

Dionne Bowden is led from the Yellowknife courthouse Friday after being sentenced to 17 months in jail for stealing more than $180,000 from her former employer. - Terrence McEachern/NNSL photo

"I'm very sorry to Mr. and Mrs. Ollerhead for what I've done," said Dionne Bowden in a shaken voice. Bowden, 35, the former financial bookkeeper of the Yellowknife-based company Ollerhead and Associates Ltd., pleaded guilty on Feb. 2, 2011 to stealing $181,541.24 from the company by forging 52 cheques between Aug. 5, 2008 and Dec. 29, 2009. The company fired her on Jan. 23, 2010 after an accountant noticed irregularities in the company's financial statements. It was revealed in court on Monday that Bowden didn't have cheque signing authority with the company.

Deputy judge Robert Bourassa said the offence was in some ways worse than a physical attack.

"A blow from a knife ... the wound can heal. Theft from a business can take years and years to recover from," he said.

"It may be (the Ollerheads) may be paying for this crime longer than the perpetrator," he said.

One of the cheques was payable to CIBC for $6,500 and signed by Varick Ollerhead, president and CEO of Ollerhead and Associates. Bowden forged Ollerhead's signature on 46 more cheques payable to herself for a total of $157,687. She also signed her office manager's signature on two more cheques totalling $4,931.60 payable to herself and then Ollerhead's signature on three more cheques payable to and cashed by the Toronto law firm Kronis, Rotsztain, Margles, and Cappel for a total of $12,422.14.

On Monday, MacPherson asked for a sentence in the range of 14-17 months in jail for what he called an "immense fraud" for "one of the largest amounts seen in the NWT," but did not seek a restitution order, noting that Ollerhead had already successfully sued Bowden for the amount stolen. However, he added that restitution hadn't be paid, and that, in his opinion, Bowden didn't have a repayment plan.

Supreme Court documents show the civil judgement on July 2, 2010 awarded Ollerhead and Associates Ltd. $181,541.24 plus $1,723.40 in interest at a rate of $11.19 a day from Jan. 18, 2010 to June 25, 2010 and legal costs in the amount of $2,110 for a total award of $185,264.64. The judgement states that Bowden failed to deliver a defence or appearance.

Bowden's lawyer Jay Bran requested an 18-month conditional sentence with the first 12 months comprised of "house arrest" and the remaining six months Bowden be required to perform 180 hours of community service and have a curfew of 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. Bran said a conditional sentence would allow her to get help for a gambling addiction which led to the thefts.

However, Bourassa said he didn't have any evidence beyond Bowden's statements that she has a gambling addiction, and criticized her for making the argument saying it was a way for her to "rationalize herself as a victim." He also rejected Bran's recommendation for a conditional sentence.

"The crime is of such significance that anything other than a term of imprisonment would be inappropriate," he said.

Besides the jail term, Bowden also received one year of probation commencing after her release from jail. The conditions are that she report to a probation officer and disclose any change of address or employment to both the probation officer and the Ollerheads.

After the sentence, MacPherson said he was pleased Bourassa accepted that Crown's recommendation, and thought this type of sentence should deter others from committing similar offences, even though this type of crime doesn't occur in the NWT that often.

Bran didn't want to comment specifically on the judge's decision, only to say that the defence is "going to be reviewing the decision and exploring all of our options, including, of course, the possibility of an appeal."

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