An ex-manager has been handed a 90-day conditional sentence and one year of probation for stealing more than $50,000 from a school uniform business in Burnaby.
Yana Spilberg, 37, pleaded guilty last month to one count of fraud over $5,000.
The charge relates to fraudulent transactions she made between September 2018 and August 2021, while she was the manager of the InSchoolwear Inc. location at 7666 Winston St., according to information presented at her sentencing in Vancouver provincial court Wednesday.
In multiple transactions over nearly three years, Spilberg recorded school uniform items as damaged or unusable and then fraudulently returned the money to three credit cards in her name and one card in her mother’s name, according to Crown prosecutor Ariel Bultz.
In total, the company lost $50,694.15, he said.
'Many, many, many mistakes'
InSchoolwear launched an investigation after the company's fraud protection agency alerted it to a number of possible fraudulent transactions.
Spilberg, the only employee working at the Burnaby location, was fired in August 2021.
After police contacted her, she voluntarily went to the Burnaby RCMP detachment in January 2022.
"The officer described her responses as sarcastic," Bultz said. "She did not deny the allegations, and then she simply asked the police officer what the next steps would be."
Both Bultz and defence lawyer Michael Shapray called for Spilberg to be given a 90-day conditional sentence with a curfew and one year of probation.
Shapray said Spilberg, a married mother of two, was remorseful and had paid the stolen money back in full before the sentencing hearing by borrowing money against her family home.
"She had some financial troubles, and she made a terribly stupid mistake and breached the trust of her employer," Shapray said.
B.C. provincial court Judge Nancy Adams saw things a little differently
"I don't know the number of transactions; it must have been many, many, many mistakes," she said. "…I expect the first one was probably more problematic for her, but possibly it became something she became inured to and simply became habit."
Adams said Spilberg had been in a position of trust at the company and breached that trust.
Breach of trust
She noted a victim impact statement written by InSchoolwear director of operations Tammy Greenfield, who said she had considered Spilberg a friend and was shocked and extremely disappointed when she learned of the fraud.
Greenfield travelled from Calgary to attend Spilberg's sentencing Wednesday.
Adams described Spilberg's fraud as a "very serious offence" but accepted she was "embarrassed and ashamed of her actions."
"I can see her face through the sentencing," Adams said. "She is very troubled by this. I think it's hard for her to turn around and even look at Ms. Greenfield."
In delivering her sentence, Adams further noted Spilberg has no other criminal history, did not deny the fraud, pleaded guilty and paid back all the money.
"I expect the courts will never see Ms. Spilberg in front of them again," Adams said.
During her 15-month sentence, Spilberg is banned from any work or volunteering that would put her in charge of anyone else's "real property, money or valuable security."
She is also banned from going to any InSchoolwear location or contacting any of the company's employees.
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