A former County of Prince Edward employee pleaded guilty last week of defrauding CUPE Local 2275 of over $150,000.

Carol Ryan, a former inspector with the County’s Building Department, was Local 2275 Treasurer from 2009 until late 2022. Between March 2017 and September 2021, she deposited $152,878 in fraudulent cheques into her personal bank account.

Crown Attorney Pardeep Bhachu told the court there was a lack of financial oversight during Ms. Ryan’s tenure as treasurer. Audits were not performed annually, as prescribed by CUPE bylaws.

“From at least 2017 until 2021, Ms. Ryan, who was carrying frequent debt obligations in her personal finances, took advantage of this lack of oversight and began to steal from and defraud the union on a regular basis,” Ms. Bhachu said.

In 2017, Ms. Ryan, who was the sole key holder to the Local’s Picton PO Box, stole CUPE rebate cheques and deposited them in her ow bank account instead of the union’s. An OPP investigation found $8,000 worth of rebate cheques had been stolen in this manner.

Ms. Ryan also co-signed Local 2275 cheques she made out to herself after obtaining a required second signature.

Ms. Ryan frequently abused the trust of such signatories, by asking them to sign blank cheques without any supporting documentation, such as invoices. In other cases, Ms. Ryan falsified the signatures of signing parties. Some of these cheques were presented to the Local 2275 executive as remittance for non-existent technology investments as well as third-party arbitration services.

In 2022, a new Local leadership recognized the treasurer had been operating without any oversight. They discovered Ms. Ryan was not submitting financial reports. When asked to provide the missing documentation, Ms. Ryan was unable to provide it. 

She resigned in July 2022.

“Ms. Ryan has withheld and/or destroyed most financial records and only provided some financial documentation with obvious omissions,” Ms. Bhachu noted.

The OPP started an investigation in October of 2022. Fraud charges were brought against Ms. Ryan, and CUPE conducted a forensic audit to examine the Local’s finances during Ms. Ryan’s tenure.

This audit that revealed the full scope of the theft and fraudulent activities.

Ms. Ryan does not have a previous record. Her attorney, Mike Prestell, noted a civil action against Ms. Ryan, had been launched by the union, to recover costs. He said Ms. Ryan has sold her home and provided the proceeds of that sale to Local 2275 and has cooperated with the union and Crown counsel.

“Her home has been sold and the proceeds of that sale have been paid to the union, however there is still a shortfall,” Mr. Pretsell told the court. In the civil matter, it’s expected the union will seek costs for the forensic audit.

Sentencing is expected to take place March 12.

Ms. Bhachu indicated the crown will be seeking a jail sentence while Mr. Pretsell notified Justice John Bonn at Belleville’s Provincial Courthouse that the defence will ask for a conditional discharge.