Husband and wife get house arrest for defrauding search and rescue group
Conditional sentence of 12 months imposed on Brian and Marina Bishop
A couple who defrauded a volunteer search and rescue organization of more than $82,000 have been sentenced to a year of house arrest, plus another year of probation.
Brian Bishop, 74, and Marina Bishop, 71, held longtime senior roles with the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association, or CASARA.
Last week, they pleaded guilty to a single count of fraud of $5,000. Eleven other charges were withdrawn.
Judge Bruce Short handed down his sentencing decision at provincial court in St. John's on Wednesday morning.
He accepted a joint submission from the Crown and defence for a conditional sentence.
Short acknowledged that the Bishops have since repaid the $82,000, which he described playing a "very significant role" as a mitigating factor.
But the judge also noted the difficulties that the fraud had caused to the members of CASARA.
"It takes a long time to regain that trust," Short said.
"These offences are quite serious."
CASARA is a nationwide volunteer organization dedicated to the promotion of search and rescue awareness, and helping support Canadian Armed Forces search and rescue operations. It receives federal funding.
Brian Bishop was national vice-president of finance and administration for CASARA until May 2022, and served as national vice-president of training and operations for two decades before that.
Marina Bishop served as secretary and treasurer for the St. John's zone of the organization's wing in Newfoundland and Labrador, CASARA-NL.
They pleaded guilty to fraudulent activity spanning more than six years, from April 2015 through September 2021.
The pair deposited federal GST/HST cheques into the zone account, then issued payments of more than $14,000 to themselves, and falsified expense claims for 56 fraudulent transactions related to flights that never actually occurred.
Brian Bishop also had CASARA foot the bill for nearly $12,000 in storage fees for a personal aircraft.
The fraud was uncovered after the husband and wife left the organization in 2022.
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