A 54-year-old woman is facing theft and fraud charges after Edmonton police allege over $5 million was fraudulently funneled from an Edmonton business over seven years.
In a release, police said they were first alerted in late 2016 that “suspicious financial transactions” had been occurring at a local mechanical business. It turned out that about 465 cheques that were supposed to pay the company’s vendors were fraudulently cashed into the personal bank account of a female employee.
Police believe the fraud took place between 2009 and 2016.
Detectives from the Economic Crimes Section confirmed a total of $5,152,179.10 had allegedly been taken from the business.
On April 25, Wanda Dawson turned herself in to police. The 54-year-old is facing one count each of theft over $5,000 and fraud over $5,000.
Gilles Petrin, founder of P.D.Q. Mechanical Ltd., confirmed to Global News that Dawson worked for his company for more than 20 years when she stopped showing up for work Oct. 18, 2018. After missing about a week of work, she was let go, Petrin said.
He said the company had an idea there was some fraud going on but had no idea the amount that had allegedly been stolen.
Petrin says the fraud actually took place over 10 years and they’ve recovered $1.6 million of the missing $5.1 million.
Dawson is scheduled to be in court on June 6.
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