Bookkeeper facing prison

Photo: Contributed

Judy Kendrick caught in a viral video hurling a slur at a group of First Nations women in Dec. 2017. She will be sentenced Tuesday on an unrelated fraud charge from March 2016.

A Penticton bookkeeper could spend up to six months in prison for defrauding a client of at least $65,000.

Judith Kendrick, 58, appeared in Penticton court Monday for a sentencing on one count of fraud. Judge Gale Sinclair withheld his decision until Tuesday.

Kendrick was caught by her client, Glen Erhardt, who noticed money missing from his accounts in March 2016.

Erhardt already won a civil judgement worth $140,000 against Kendrick last year, where a judge found $105,000 was stolen.

Criminally, however, where the burden of proof is much higher, the courts found $65,000 was taken.

Crown prosecutor Ann Lerchs said Kendrick siphoned off the $65K through 120 transactions over “many months.”

“This was not a one off, it’s something that occurred repeatedly over month and months,” Lerchs said.

Lerchs noted that even after a full pre-sentence and psychological report, Kendrick has not told the courts exactly why she took the money.

“What I do know, however, is an indication in the report that she was dealing with depression at the time of this offence,” she said. “She certainly suffers from some mental health issues.”

Lerchs said the theft had a large financial and emotional toll on the victim.

"This terrible theft of my money has emotionally scarred me," Learchs read from Erhardt's victim impact statement. "I was set to retire soon, and now will work for another five years. Years of my life have been taken by Judy Kendrick."

Defence lawyer James Pennington argued for three years probation. At the very worst, he said, any jail term should be servable on the weekends. It's unlikely she will get another bookkeeping client and the chance to re-offend, he said. 

“She has suffered the significant, very public humiliation of the conviction in this court, and has been essentially crucified on social media,” he said.

Kendrick has been unemployed since being caught on video hurling a racial slur at a group of First Nations women at the Penticton Dollarama in December.

“She has nothing left at all,” Pennington said.

Kendrick said little when given the chance to speak, simply saying she was sorry.

Judge Sinclair said he "needed to sleep" on the decision, and would return Tuesday morning with a sentence.