A Sudbury senior who contrived an elaborate scheme to bilk an elderly couple out of almost $115,000 will find out in November whether or not she?s going to jail.
Shirley Lebel, 64, pleaded guilty Wednesday to fraud over $5,000.
Court heard she convinced the elderly couple, whom she befriended, to lend her large amounts of money between the fall of 1998 and spring of 2002.
Lebel convinced the couple she was going to be receiving a substantial amount of money. They kept giving her more money after she provided false documents stating her cash windfall was on the way.
Police became involved last year after the couple had to be convinced Lebel was cheating them and her documents were falsified, said assistant Crown attorney Len Walker.
To maintain their trust, Lebel, on three separate occasions, wrote IOU?s to the couple stating the exact amount of money she had borrowed from them, said Walker.
In May of 2002, she presented the couple with a promisary note and undated cheque in the amount of the $115,000 she had taken from them, making the couple believe they could cash the cheque in the near future.
The couple only became convinced Lebel was cheating them when police proved to them the insurance companies and institutions knew nothing of the documents, said Walker.
Lebel?s lawyer Charles Conroy agreed a pre-sentence report should be prepared before Lebel is sentenced Nov. 13.
Conroy did not present any evidence as to why his client decided to steal money from her friends.
Walker told the court the Crown will be seeking a jail sentence in November, while Conroy indicated he will be seeking a conditional sentence to be served in the community.
Lebel was released and ordered to continue obeying her court orders until she returns to court for her sentencing
hearing in three months.
