A Brantford woman, Anne Griffiths, charged earlier this year with fraud, is facing new charges.
Norfolk OPP said Griffiths, age 57, was charged on Nov. 9 with fraud over $5,000 and using a forged document as genuine.
The fraud investigation started last February after being called to a business in Simcoe. Griffiths was charged last April with fraud over $5,000 and uttering a forged document.
Griffiths was sent to prison in 2009 for three years for siphoning nearly $1.5 million from the retirement fund of a group of elderly nuns.
She pleaded guilty to theft over $5,000 in the case of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Hamilton.
At a sentencing hearing, Superior Court Justice James Ramsay was told the 67 retired nuns with the average age was 75, had dedicated their lives to the church and community with salaries earned by their work as nurses and teachers going into a pool of money that was used for charitable work and retirement.
In 2005, Griffiths was hired as an accountant by the nuns and the first accounting irregularities was noticed in December 2006. After the irregularities was noticed, Griffiths was terminated the following month.
Ramsay disclosed that most of the stolen money went to buy a seven-bedroom $500,000 home in Brantford, with a saltwater pool, hot tub, extravagant furnishings and luxury cars.
In total, Griffiths made 869 false accounting entries. She used her own accounts but also transferred money to her family accounts. Initially, her husband and mother were charged with possession of stolen property over $5,000 but those charges were later dropped.
Justice Ramsey said “the motive here was greed,” and sentenced Griffiths to three years in prison.
“You wanted to live like a rock star and didn’t mind if the sisters paid for it.”
Griffiths, ,her husband and mother were evicted from their Hunter Way home after the nuns got a court ruling that gave them possession of the property.
This article was originally sourced by parisstaronline.com.
