Local resident Jennifer Simao pleaded guilty earlier this year to fraud charges involving at least $600,000 stolen from a former employer. 

Now, Ms. Simao, who also goes by the name Jennifer Wickware, is facing further fraud charges for allegedly stealing over $70,000 from her mother in unauthorized RRSP withdrawals and in falsified medical and legal expenses.

In May 2025, detectives from Belleville’s Criminal Investigation Division found that $18,000 had been withdrawn from a victim’s Canada Life RRSP account without her consent.

An investigation was launched. Between February and March 2023, her mother’s RRSP account information had been put in Jennifer Simao’s name. Four withdrawals totalling $16,830 had then been deposited into an account controlled by Ms. Simao.

Further investigation determined that Ms. Simao had taken $54,000 from her mother between 2019 and 2022 under the pretense of covering medical and legal expenses. Receipts provided to the victim were later determined to be fraudulent, and included forged documents and forged signatures.

On September 12, Ms. Simao was arrested and charged with multiple counts of fraud and forging documents. She will be in court in Belleville to answer to the latest charges on November 27.

A former marketing manager for Impacto Protective Products in Belleville, between 2018 and 2022 Ms. Simao created false online advertising campaigns using Shopify and Amazon accounts. She also ordered items through Amazon to her home address and paid for the goods using company credit cards.

In addition to defrauding Impacto, in 2023 she was found to have misdirected over $5,300 into a personal account while working as Communications and Media Director for the Station Road Arts Collective.

Ms. Simao was at the Belleville Consolidated Courthouse on Tuesday, October 7 for pre-sentencing. 

The defence is requesting a conditional sentence, citing Ms. Simao’s poor health as a reason. The Crown is asking for a penitentiary sentence. On November 14 a sentence date is expected to be set.