St. John’s (October 15, 2019) – A fraudulent former school accountant, Kimberly Stagg, was sentenced for defrauding her then employer St. Bonaventure’s college of more than half a million dollars. After she had pleaded guilty in June, she was sentenced to 3 years in prison on October 9.

Accountant Kimberly Stagg was sentenced for defrauding her former employer St. Bonaventure’s College of over half a million dollars over a five year period in provincial court in St. John’s on October 9. The private school fired Stagg in March 2018 after discovering the fraud.

In March 2019, the 33-year-old accountant faced ten charges including fraud over $5,000 and criminal breach of trust as well as four forgery related charges and four additional charges of using a forged document. Thereafter, the mother of two children pleaded guilty to the multiple charges on June 6.

In the statement of facts, it is described that she had forged bank statements and had made 341 transactions by email transfer to multiple bank accounts in her name. This way, she defrauded St. Bonaventure’s College of $548,909 from November 2013 to March 2018. At that period of time, she was the only person with access to the school accounts. Stagg said that she used the money to pay bills and take a trip to Disney Land.

The judge agreed to the 3 years jail sentence which was suggested by the Crown and the defense lawyer in a joint submission. Additionally, she is ordered to fully repay the funds, she took from her former employer.