Former exec director charged with defrauding Big Brothers Big Sisters Peterborough

A former executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters Peterborough has been charged after police allege she defrauded the charity of $200,000.

Peterborough police said that between 2009 and 2015 Darlene Edwardes-Evans wrote and cashed cheques she was not entitled to.

Big Brothers Big Sisters Peterborough chair Tammy Williams said Saturday the group began investigating alleged “abnormalities” in 2014, leading to Edwardes-Evans’ March 2015 firing as executive director and the police being called in.

Forty-nine-year-old Edwardes-Evans, of Selwyn, faces three counts of fraud over $5,000. She was arrested Thursday and released from custody with a court appearance set for April 28.

Williams said the charity remains “strong financially” and that programming has not been affected.

The group “will take every step to try and recover funds,” she said.

Edwardes-Evans is listed as an instructor at Ryerson University. Her biography says she has won multiple awards for running a non-profit organization as well as youth programming.