The former treasurer of a parent advisory committee at a Kelowna, B.C., elementary school who siphoned $25,000 from the organization five years ago has pleaded guilty.
Andrea Blanchard pleaded guilty Tuesday to a charge of theft over $5,000. Money was stolen from the South Rutland Elementary Parents Advisory Council from Jan. 12, 2016, to Nov. 8, 2018, a representative of the BC Prosecution Service said in an email.
“The court ordered a pre-sentence report (Tuesday),” the BC Prosecution Service representative said, adding that the next court appearance is on July 27 for a sentencing hearing.
Blanchard became the focus of an RCMP investigation in December 2018 after her fellow PAC members learned she couldn’t produce documents like a bank statement at meetings.
Further scrutiny revealed that thousands of dollars had been stolen from the PAC bank account over the aforementioned two-year period.
Blanchard was later charged with fraud, theft over $5,000, forgery, using a forged document and altering books or documents to defraud, though the theft is the only charge she’s ultimately pleaded guilty to.
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In June 2019, the PAC told Global News it had reached an agreement with Blanchard to pay back $25,000 and that may have contributed to only one charge remaining.
Despite the repayment, the theft was ultimately harmful to the students of the school.
“As PAC president when we discovered the misappropriation, we had extremely low bank balances,” Toni Koryakuss, PAC vice-president, told Global News during a 2021 interview.
“At that time, we were not able to offer any kind of field trips, in-school supplies that would help out our teachers’ wish lists. We were not able to operate hot lunches at that time, or anything to do with financial support for our school.”
Once the community got involved, however, the PAC’s coffers were refilled and the organization was able to carry on.
— with files from Global News reporter Doyle Potenteau
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