Veronica Whittal, 49, previously pleaded guilty to a single count of fraud over $5,000 for taking $302,341 from the Chatham-Kent branch of United Way.
Court learned Whittal created fake email addresses for fictitious vendors and she e-transferred herself the money directly from the United Way bank account.
During a hearing Wednesday morning lawyers presented a joint submission, requesting a sentence of house arrest of 18 months to two years from Justice Marnie Vickerd.
During that time, they’re proposing Whittal be under GPS monitoring, and she only be allowed out of her home for four hours on Mondays.
They’re also seeking a restitution order for Whittal to re-pay the United Way, although the defence and crown disagree on whether there should be a deadline imposed.
Late Wednesday afternoon, Justice Vickerd sentenced Whittal to 23 months house arrest and she ordered restitution and GPS-monitoring.
A ‘significant breach of trust’
Assistant Crown Attorney Julie Ghag noted Wednesday typically a theft of more than $100,000 would warrant ‘real jail time’.
Whittal was the financial coordinator for Chatham-Kent United Way, and she took the money over a period of at least a year, according to Ghag.
The crown, however, agreed to a conditional sentence because Whittal wanted to take responsibility for her actions from the time of her arrest and she started and continues to seek counselling for a gambling addiction.
Court learned Wednesday Whittal has already completed a 21-day in-patient treatment followed by a 12-week ‘after care’ program for her addiction.
Tearful apology
Whittal stood in court Wednesday – and through tears – apologized for her action, looking directly at a United Way representative and her family.
“I am truly sorry for what I have done,” Whittal said. “If I could take it back I would and I would have never have done what I did and I am truly sorry to the United Way and I didn’t mean to do anything to hurt you.”
“And, to my family and friends I feel terrible for what I have done and the embarrassment that I have caused,” Whittal continued. “I just want everybody to know I didn’t do it on purpose. I have issues that I’m working on. And I’m truly going to make my life a better one going forward.”
Whittal has ‘limited means’ for restitution
Defence lawyer Ken Marley said Whittal will ‘endeavour to address restitution’ to the United Way but told the court she is of ‘limited means’.
“It is for most of us unattainable,” Marley said. “Whether it can ever all be repaid or not, I don’t know. She’s going to obviously try.”
Justice Vickerd noted in her sentencing that even at $1,300 per month, it would take Whittal 20 years to repay the United Way.
Court also learned the charity believes its lost one million dollars in donations by donors who have lost trust in the United Way as a result of the high profile criminal case.
Marley said a conditional sentence – commonly referred to as house arrest – is the “best way” for Whittal to “repay” her debt to society.
“If you put her in jail, you and I and everybody else who’s watching your newscast are going to pay for her,” Marley said. “When she’s at home, she has to support herself, she has to do community service.”
“It accomplishes nothing to put her in jail,” he said.
No typical victim impact statement
As the victim in this case isn’t a human victim, the crown relied on statements from the Chatham-Kent United Way, to illustrate the impact of Whittals’ actions.
According to Ghag, Whittals’ actions were “demoralizing for the United Way team”, who’s employees had to deal with program delays as a result.
The crown also noted the charity was forced to undergo an expensive and time-consuming financial audit when someone noticed the money was gone.
“The damage is substantial,” Ghag told the court.
Chatham-Kent now merged with Windsor-Essex
Since the theft was discovered, the United Way has changed their financial controls, according to Windsor-Essex Chatham-Kent CEO Lorraine Goddard.
“In the past year or so, United Way, Windsor-Essex had KPMG (auditing company) come in and do a thorough review of all of our controls to ensure that we are protecting donor dollars,” said Goddard.
Meanwhile she said the merger of Windsor-Essex and Chatham-Kent branches five months after Whittal was charged is a coincidence.
Goddard told CTV News Wednesday the case ‘sped up’ the work to merge; a process they had started in 2017.
“United Way Canada had identified the need to strengthen United Way’s capacity across the country and, that meant that we needed to reduce the number of United Way’s, not our footprint,” said Goddard. “Back in 2017, there was about 120 United Ways. Now there’s 64.”
Goddard acknowledged the theft has impacted programs in Chatham-Kent but they are now in the process of asking the community how the charity might best serve their needs.
“We’re really trying to, I guess, reset, United Way in the community,” Goddard said.
She told CTV News they plan to send out a survey in the coming weeks.
