Ottawa (October 7, 2019) – Former volunteer church treasurer and retired federal government accountant, Barton Burron, was sentenced to two years in prison for fraud over $5,000 on October 4. Burron defrauded the St. Luke Lutheran Church in New Edinburgh out of $607,725 using the money for high-risk real estate investments.
Barton Burron had been a valued parishioner of St. Luke Lutheran Church in New Edinburgh and the congregation’s volunteer treasurer for three decades. After Burron resigned in April 2014, the church discovered the scheme he had been conducting for the last five years in its entirety.
The retired federal government accountant had been managing the finances and investments of St. Luke and had the sole signing authority on its bank accounts. With this trusted position he was able to use the church’s money to invest in his own high-risk real-estate venture beginning in 2009. The 73-year-old accountant embezzled $607,725 from the congregation in order to provide money for his scheme which dealt with luxury condos. In 2013, he had lost all of the church’s money.
After Burron had been convicted of fraud over $5,000 in April, Justice Matthew Webber sentenced him to two years in prison on October 4. Burron will be on probation for three years and was additionally imposed a restitution order to pay back St. Luke church $1,000 per month. As a result of a civil lawsuit settlement, to date he has already repaid about $117,000.
The Ontario court ordered that Burron must not seek any kind of position in which he would be responsible for finances in the next decade. The defense counsel Bruce Engel confirmed that his client won’t appeal the sentence.
