Charlottetown woman to serve jail time for theft from credit union
A former law student from Charlottetown is going to jail for stealing money from clients at the credit union where she used to work.
Abby Martina Gallant, 25, was sentenced to 10 months in jail in provincial court Friday for taking more than $117,682.15 from six customers at the Provincial Credit Union in Charlottetown.
The court heard the thefts happened while Gallant was working as a teller at the credit union between August 2014 and October 2016, and that most of the money was taken while Gallant was at work.
The Crown said Gallant also generated bank cards, which she used to withdraw money while she was in Australia attending law school in 2016.
The court heard that the bank heard about the missing money when a client reported unusual transactions and indicated that there had been withdrawals from their account made at an ATM in Australia.
Crown attorney Lisa Goulden said Gallant made a total of 134 fraudulent transactions. The court also heard that all of the six victims were between the ages of 65 and 89.
"In this particular case, it was not particularly sophisticated," Goulden said. "But there is the number 134 transactions, that's 134 times that Gallant purposely entered the accounts of other people and took their money … that's a decision made every time and it continued when she went to Australia."
Judge Jeff Lantz said according to the pre-sentence report Gallant had spent some of the money on clothes, cell phones, eating at restaurants and trips to Calgary, the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua.
'She's owned it from the very beginning'
Gallant's lawyer Chris Montigny told the court Gallant has struggled with mental-health issues and indicated that the pre-sentence report stated Gallant had been meeting with a psychologist.
"It's demonstrated that Ms. Gallant has been suffering from mental-health issues, those mental-health issues impacted her in a material way," Montigny said.
He said since her return from Australia, Gallant and her family have taken part in a restorative justice process and she feels remorse for her actions.
He added that Gallant has no prior criminal record and she never denied her actions, and "she's owned it from the very beginning."
Montigny said Gallant has also attempted to speak with the insurance company about reimbursing the money to the best of her ability.
Restitution to be paid
The court heard that all of the six clients have been reimbursed in full by the credit union's insurance company and the credit union is not seeking restitution from Gallant.
However, the judge did order Gallant to pay restitution of $109,703.96 to the insurance company that covered the losses.
When she gets out of jail she will be on probation for another three years.
Lantz said that he was satisfied Gallant showed significant remorse for her actions and while he did consider her struggle with mental health, that denunciation and deterrence are paramount in these types of cases.
"There has to be meaningful consequences and those consequences are unfortunately, jail," Lantz said.
More P.E.I. News
