The judge rejected Krisandra Jacobs's gambling addiction as the primary reason for her crimes, which defrauded the Nation of over $855,000
A former councillor of Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw who defrauded the Nation out of over $855,000 has been sent to prison for four years for her crimes.
Smith said Jacobs’s breach of the trust placed in her as both an elected councillor and high-level employee of the nation called for a jail sentence to act as a deterrent. That is needed to protect “not just the Squamish Nation but all such nations” vulnerable to similar crimes, the judge said. But during the trial, several witnesses who worked in the Nation’s finance department described how Jacobs had set up an additional “shadow process” that she used to circumvent those controls, often calling in employees on weekends to issue cheques to her.
After the first time she used a cheque for her own purposes, Jacobs had “421 opportunities to reflect on what she had done ... and not do it again,” the judge said.In a victim impact statement submitted during an earlier sentencing hearing, Khelsilem, spokesperson for Squamish Nation, wrote the impact of Jacobs’s crimes have been long-lasting, with many thousands of dollars no longer available to help the most vulnerable members of the community. Her actions also divided the community, he wrote.
In handing down her sentence, the judge rejected Jacobs’s gambling as either a prime cause of or a mitigating factor in responsibility for her crimes.