Crooked bookkeeper jailed

Photo: Contributed

Judy Kendrick caught in a viral video hurling a slur at a group of First Nations women in Dec. 2017. She was sentenced to 90 days jail on an unrelated fraud charge on Tuesday.

A Penticton bookkeeper has been sentenced 90 days in prison on the weekends for stealing at least $60,000 from a client.

Judith Kendrick, 58, pleaded guilty to one count of fraud after being caught by her customer, Glen Erhardt, in March 2016. 

Judge Gale Sinclair said the theft occurred in “the most unsophisticated way possible,” that saw Kendrick simply transfer money into her account across 120 transactions over 13 months.

Sinclair balanced Kendrick’s remorse and early guilty plea with a large sum of money stolen and the fact that she was in a position of trust over the victim.

“It would be an easy thing to sentence her to six months imprisonment, the Crown is certainly not out of line making that request,” Sinclair said, adding the defence’s request for three-years of probation wasn’t “unreasonable either.”

“The range of sentences is very wide in this type of case,” he added.

The judge settled on 90 days in prison, to be served on the weekends at the Penticton RCMP detachment.

In addition, he placed Kendrick on two years probation, noting she would benefit from anger-management and depression counselling available through community corrections.

Erhardt already won a civil judgement worth $140,000 against Kendrick last year, and immediately received $68,000, so no criminal restitution order was made.