Charlottetown (October 17, 2019) – Former Andrews Hockey Growth Programs’ comptroller, Courtney Patricia Johnston, was sentenced to 60 days in jail for defrauding her former employer in provincial court in Charlottetown on October 15. Within a stretch of four months, the Charlottetown woman embezzled over $9,000 from the hockey training school. The money was intended to sponsor the school’s students.
Courtney Patricia Johnston is the former comptroller of the Andrews Hockey Growth Programs. The 34-year-old has been defrauding the Prince Edward Island’s hockey training school of over $9,000 within a stretch of four months. According to The Chronicle Herald, the fraud was discovered by the company that processed the school’s refunds which subsequently contacted the school.
After the school found out about her fraudulent actions, Johnston resigned several days later. The Charlottetown woman confessed to the police that she directed money to her credit card, which was intended to cover sponsored students’ fees. She only used sponsoring funds from students who had already paid their fees. Therefore, the sponsored students had not been refunded in the amount of the sponsoring funds as they were supposed to be.
In total, she fraudulently took $9,171.15 over the course of 15 transactions. The transactions ranged between $450 and $900. To cover her tracks, Johnston deleted a surveillance video as well as 256 files from a Google drive and shredded a sponsor list.
Defense lawyer Isaac Quinn explained that Johnston struggled with credit card debt and was the sole provider for her household. Furthermore, she has shown remorse, handed in a guilty plea and has already paid back the fraudulently obtained money to the school by borrowing it from family members who she intends to repay.
In provincial court in Charlottetown, Judge John Douglas sentenced her to 60 days in jail on October 15. Johnston will serve the sentence on weekends and will be on probation for two years.
