N.S. woman who got $8K after falsely claiming daughter died sentenced to 4 years

The Supreme Court of Nova Scotia is pictured. (Callum Smith/CTV News Atlantic)

In sentencing Katherine MacDougall, who is also known as Alissa Kathryn MacGillivary, Justice James L. Chipman described her as a “repeat fraudster” who had engaged in years of forgery-related offences, one of which included falsely claiming her daughter and other family members had died.

“Ms. MacDougall has a serious and substantial criminal record for related crimes of dishonesty,” Chipman said in his written decision. “Her moral culpability is at the highest end of the scale.”

MacDougall – who is also known Alexandra Ryan – received a four-and-a-half-year sentence after pleading guilty to numerous fraud charges last December.

A factual hearing was set for May 12 as MacDougall, 53, asserted various mitigating facts, including that she identified as Indigenous, according to the written decision. However, after reviewing the ancestral trees submitted to the court, she no longer self-identified as Indigenous and the sentencing proceeded on May 12 at the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia.

According to the agreed statement of facts, MacDougall, using the name Alissa MacDougall and a fraudulent criminal record check, obtained a job at Southland Transportation in Dartmouth as a dispatcher in 2020. She later got bereavement leave for falsely claiming her three-year-old daughter had been killed by a drunk driver in Newfoundland.

The decision notes MacDougall had access to the criminal record checks of new employees at Southland and stole fingerprints for further fraud, including using them to supply a forged criminal record/background check with Kent Building Supplies.

MacDougall started working for Kent under the name Alexandra Ryan in May 2021. At different times, she falsely claimed her mother, stepfather, sister and daughter had died. She also falsely claimed paid sick leave by providing forged doctor’s notes using the names of two real doctors.

“In total, (MacDougall) defrauded Kent of $3,000.00 through fundraising and a further $5,161.76 through paid bereavement and sick leave,” the decision reads.

Medical documents

The written decision says, during her time at Southland, MacDougall started a romantic relationship with another employee and falsely claimed she was pregnant. She supplied false paternity test results and forged medical documents speaking to the pregnancy.

The decision notes when MacDougall was arrested in August 2024, she was found carrying three Nova Scotia Health cards. In 2018, 2019 and 2020, MacDougall submitted applications for Nova Scotia Medical Services Insurance.

In the 2018 and 2019 applications, she submitted fraudulent birth certificates for non-existent children.

When MacDougall was arrested, police also seized a cellphone that contained pictures of blank birth certificates and a blank driver’s abstract, according to the decision. Police also found at least 40 forged medical letters, 14 forged documents from the Registry of Motor Vehicles and an unsecured rifle in MacDougall’s apartment.

Between 2017 and 2024, MacDougall obtained more than $19,000 in income assistance payments from the Department of Community Services by fraudulently listing a dependent, claiming income assistance for rent when she was actually living rent free and failing to declare her income while working at Kent.

2024 arrest

The decision says MacDougall – under the name Alexandra Ryan – got a job with Bishop’s Cellar in Halifax in the summer of 2024. She told her manager her daughter had gone to hospital for an emergency surgery, and her father had died and her mother had taken her own life in grief to fraudulently get paid sick or bereavement leave.

“To substantiate her claims and fraudulently obtain paid time off, (MacDougall) provided forged statements of death for her ‘parents’ and forged doctor’s notes,” the decision reads.

That summer, MacDougall also got a job at Krown Rust under the name Alissa MacGillivary and told them her sister had died. She offered to show the company the death certificate less than 24 hours after the alleged death, according to the decision.

“Krown Rust employees realized such documents would not be issued so quickly,” the decision reads. “After (MacDougall’s) arrest and the subsequent press release, (MacDougall’s) employment was terminated and Krown Rust was able to stop her pay before it was issued.

“(MacDougall) admits that her ‘sister’ did not die and that she was attempting to defraud Krown Rust of paid leave.”

Sentencing

The Crown sought a sentence of five years while the defence requested a three-and-a-half-year sentence. Justice Chipman settled on 54 months, or four-and-a-half years, although he noted MacDougall has 745 days of remand credit.

Chipman also sentenced her to a lifetime firearms prohibition and standalone restitution orders to Kent and the Department of Community Services.

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