A bookkeeper who stole $52,000 from her employer was spared a jail sentence Friday.
Instead, Justice Andre Guay of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice sentenced Brenda Callan, 31, to a conditional sentence of 12 months, where she will be under house arrest except when working.
Callan is a good citizen who had never been in any kind of trouble before and it?s difficult to explain why she did what she did, said Guay.
?It mystifies me considering this woman?s personal background? how she could make a decision that could land her in such deep trouble, said Guay.
Callan pleaded guilty in July to theft over $5,000 and fraud over $5,000. She admitted that between January 2000 and July 2001, she embezzled almost $52,000 from the small business where she worked as a bookkeeper.
Her scheme involved falsifying records, forging company cheques and depositing the money into her personal bank account.
Callan was charged in September 2002.
Assistant Crown attorney Roberta Bald had asked the court to impose a 12-month jail sentence saying this case involved a serious breach of trust by an employee against her employer.
Callan admitted her guilty immediately when confronted by her employer and police and has shown extreme remorse for her actions since being arrested, her lawyer said.
