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Susan Steen

A woman accused of stealing more than $100,000 from a Kelowna-based non-profit was sentenced to four months in jail Thursday for stealing thousands of dollars from a similar organization in Nanaimo.

Susan Steen was the executive director of the Central Okanagan Hospice Association for six years, where she allegedly stole $109,878.

After leaving the Kelowna organization, but before her alleged theft was discovered, Steen was hired as the executive director of the Nanaimo Community Hospice Society in December 2016.

She stole $6,000 from the Nanaimo organization before her theft was discovered in May 2017, and she was promptly fired. The alleged Kelowna theft was discovered at about the same time.

Steen pleaded guilty to fraud in Nanaimo last April, and on Thursday, a judge sentenced her to four months in jail followed by two years of probation.

She was also ordered to pay more than $17,000 in restitution to the NCHS, which included the non-profit's legal fees.

The current executive director of the NCHS, Paul Sibley, told Castanet the organization first noticed “irregularities” when the organization's credit card was being used to take cash out at a casino.

“It was clear in retrospect looking at it that it's someone who has a problem,” Sibley said.

Steen is scheduled back in Kelowna court with her co-accused Melanie Gray on Jan. 8. Neither has entered pleas in the Kelowna fraud and theft charges.