Barmaid plundered ill mom's money

BY TONY SPEARS, OTTAWA SUN

FIRST POSTED: TUESDAY, DECEMBER 01, 2015 02:00 PM EST | 

UPDATED: TUESDAY, DECEMBER 01, 2015 02:02 PM EST

An aging Legion barmaid who defrauded her dementia-stricken mother and now-dead stepfather out of thousands of dollars avoided jail Tuesday.

Louise Beauchemin, 57, pleaded guilty to fraud over $5,000 and got a two-year conditional sentence -- a jail sentence she can serve at home -- as well as three years of probation.

"I assume you're suitably ashamed of yourself," Judge Matthew Webber said.

According to an agreed statement of facts read out in court, Beauchemin nicked her mother's chequebook and drained her account of $49,000 between February 2012 and April 2013.

Her mother only discovered the fraud in June 2013, when she noticed her account was no longer flush.

"It's hard not to entertain the possibility that you were taking advantage not only of the trust of your mother but perhaps of her condition as well," Webber told Beauchemin.

The sentence came as a result of a joint position put forward by Crown prosecutor Fara Rupert and defence lawyer Solomon Friedman.

"You're being dealt with leniently," the judge said. "It is undoubtedly an offence that more often than not attracts a term of incarceration."

Beauchemin will keep doling out drinks the Legion bar while under house arrest thanks to a restitution order that will have her repay her mother $416 every month for the next five years.

Her part-time job is her sole source of income; the court heard she and her husband have no assets.

Her house arrest sentence allows her to keep working and she'll be allowed to attend a family gathering for Christmas. Webber also agreed to grant a defence request to let her walk her dog twice a day.

"If there's not a dog at the end of a leash attached to your arm you'll be in breach," Webber warned. "Do you understand me?"

Beauchemin signalled her comprehension but otherwise said little; asked if she had anything to say for herself following her guilty plea all she could muster was "not really, no."

She'll be under house arrest conditions for the first year of her sentence then she'll have to obey a 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew, after which she'll be bound by a probation order.

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