The facts of a fraud case against a former Kindersley travel agent detail a downward spiral of events that led to her charge, a guilty plea and a prison sentence.
Leslie Glauser, who operated T & T Travel Ltd., pleaded guilty in December to a single count of fraud with an amount exceeding $5,000 in value. The accused was sentenced in Kindersley provincial court on Feb. 6 and she was ordered to serve three years in a federal penitentiary.
The fraud charge, a global count, involved more than 250 total complaints. The Crown and the defence presented a joint submission for the court’s consideration. Judge Robert Jackson presided over the sentencing and agreed to the submission.
Darren Howarth, a senior Crown prosecutor assigned to the case, said the Crown and defence agree to the amount of total loss in the matter. He noted that the overall amount of loss to the 250 complainants was more than $1.02 million, but it was difficult to determine the amount of the direct benefit to Glauser.
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Nearly 200 of the complainants paid using their credit cards, so they have been able to recover losses. Howarth said the money paid back to people who used credit cards is a reason the fraud incorporates $550,000 to a credit card clearing company.
The people who paid using cash or cheque were not reimbursed, so the determinable loss was based on just more than 50 complainants, he told the court. Howarth said the fraud was through the operation of a travel agency.
In addition to three years in jail, the joint submission included an order to pay back nearly $200,000 to more than 50 customers that paid with cash or cheques. The prosecutor said it was a manageable amount to pay back. Jackson also ordered Glauser to pay a $200 victim surcharge fine.
He referred to the fraud as a Ponzi scheme several times during the proceedings. Howarth said the former travel agent would use money she took from new customers to pay for trips that were sold to old customers. He said several companies were going unpaid and travel arrangements were not booked until just days before the trips.
The prosecutor said Ponzi schemes tend to grow over time. The police investigation was not able to determine an amount of personal gain to Glauser, but some money was going to the accused or her family.
Court heard that cheques from the business were being made out to Glauser and her husband. The fraud was hidden from two part-time employees, the prosecutor noted. Glauser walked away from the business in January 2016 and complaints started to surface.
A forensic accountant was hired to assist with the investigation. Howarth said investigators had to piece together their case because no bookkeeping was being done. There were only two T4 slips, a couple of $30,000 dividends, bank statements and records obtained from a search warrant executed at Glauser’s home.
At one point, Jackson asked the prosecutor if the investigation ever determined why the accused was taking money from the business. Howarth said he did not have an exact answer for the court, but a forensic audit of the family’s expenditures should help.
Court heard that the problem did not appear to be related to gambling or addiction. Glauser’s personal spending was that of a person who makes $95,000 a year, but the travel agency was barely a break even business, Howarth said.
It appeared as though the money was used for personal purposes, but it was not as if Glauser and her family were living a lavish lifestyle. The family was spending double the amount of money it was making, the Crown said. He continued to provide details about the financial history of the business.
“That’s likely how it started and and things snowballed from there,” the prosecutor said, recognizing the travel agent would have needed to work very hard to manage the business while the fraud was growing over time.
The fraud came to light in January 2016, but Howarth said it was not the first time Glauser came close to getting caught because she could not cover the scheme. He said she borrowed a total of nearly $140,000 in the early part of 2014 to cover trips, and to keep the business and the scheme going.
Howarth said Glauser used pressure tactics to convince, and in some cases force, people to book trips. She would contact people to tell them they could get a great deal on a trip, and then she would tell them they had to pay for the trip immediately to get the deal. The money would be used to cover for other people’s trips.
For example, she gave a $4,000 discount on a trip worth $9,000 and it was a deal the customer could not refuse. However, she now owed $9,000 for a trip she did not have money to cover and the losses continued to mount over time.
Four victims read impact statements to the court. One woman suffered with her health due to the stress from her incident while a mother told the story of how she had to tell her young children they were not going on the trip to Disneyland they had been promised at Christmas. Glauser wiped tears from her eyes as victims shared stories.
Robert Robbenhaar, the defence lawyer, said he disagreed with the Crown’s reference to a Ponzi scheme. He said his client opened a legitimate business and she decided to start selling low-cost trips to generate cash flow.
He told the court that as time went on, a deficit she created grew and she could not recover. Robbenhaar said the fraud involved more than $1 million and investigators believed his client benefitted from about $65,000 over that same time, so it was a relatively low amount and she was not living the high life.
Court heard that Glauser did not have a previous criminal record. When shew as asked if she wanted to address the court, Glauser said she wanted people to know that things snowballed, and she “just wanted everyone to get what they paid for.”
Other matters arising in court on Feb. 6:
• Chad Labelle has pleaded guilty to separate charges of operating an unregistered vehicle and driving while suspended. He was ordered to pay $780 in fines.
The accused said he knew he was driving an unregistered vehicle, but he did not know his licence was suspended due to unpaid SGI fines. He told the court he never read the letter, but the fines have since been paid. Judge Robert Jackson ordered Labelle to pay a fine of $580 including the surcharge for driving an unregistered vehicle and a fine of $200 for driving while his licence was suspended.
• Matthew Peters has pleaded guilty to driving while suspended and he has received a fine for his troubles. Peters said he did not get a letter notifying him about his suspension but his SGI fines have been paid in full. Judge Robert Jackson ordered him to pay a $200 fine for driving while suspended.
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