A Canadian husband and wife pleaded guilty to embezzling a total of more than C$82,000 (US$59,463) from Canada’s volunteer Civil Air Search and Rescue Association (CASARA), the Canadian equivalent of the U.S. Civil Air Patrol. Yesterday morning (Oct. 16), Brian and Marina Bishop, aged 74 and 71 respectively, appeared in provincial court in St. John’s charged with one count of fraud over $5,000. The couple, who reportedly held senior roles at CASARA and had been involved with the organization starting in the late 1980s or early 1990s, admitted to depositing federal checks to CASARA accounts and issuing payments to themselves over a period of more than six years. Further, there were 56 transactions related to fraudulent expense claims for flights that never happened, according to the charges.
The pair have since paid back the full amount they were accused of unlawfully taking. They faced 11 further charges, including forgery offenses and breach of trust in connection with the fraud, but those charges were withdrawn. The couple’s defense counsel requested a conditional sentence (house arrest) of 12 months followed by 12 months’ probation. The judge is scheduled to decide on sentencing next week.
