Nova Scotia criminals failing to make restitution in most cases

Nova Scotians ordered to make restitution for their crimes have a very poor record for paying what they owe.

A CBC News investigation shows in some categories, the repayment rates are as low as 1.4 per cent. That means for the total amount owing of $12.3 million, only $176,000 was actually paid.

"We're well aware of that," said John Joyce Robinson, the director of victim services for the province's justice department.

"And we know that's an issue and that's why we've actually taken action to try to help improve that in Nova Scotia."

Waiting for payment for years

The department started compiling numbers about five years ago to try to track restitution. Conditional sentence orders account for about eight per cent of restitutions, 42 to 44 per cent of orders are for what is called "stand-alone" orders, and the remainder falls under probation orders.

Conditional sentences are also known as house arrest. They don't involve jail but place restrictions on the person as they live in their own home. Stand-alone orders are not attached to such conditions, which is why repayment tends to be so poor.

"With the stand-alone orders, that's really an order that allows the victim to pursue it through a civil process, through the civil courts," Joyce Robinson said.

"And with those orders, we've found that there's been a much lower collection rate."

That rate can be as low as 1.4 per cent, although Joyce Robinson said that only shows collections in the criminal system and doesn't include civil collections. However, he said even when you add those in, the rate of collection is very low.

Bonnie and Peter Caldarozzi know that firsthand. The owners of Embrace Spa in the Halifax suburb of Clayton Park noticed they were losing money a few years ago.

"It was a brand new business," Peter Caldarozzi told CBC News. "As anybody knows, starting a new business, it's a struggle in the beginning. We thought we were doing fine, the spa was really busy every day. And it showed that we were always in a deficit and we couldn't understand why."

It turns out the reason they were struggling was that their assistant manager at the time was stealing from them.

'We have to do the chasing'

The Caldarozzis had a forensic audit done, covering a one-year period. It showed they had lost more than $68,000, although they suspect the amount was double that because they believe the thefts had been going on for years.

Sherri Dawn Lee was charged with theft and fraud over $5,000. She was convicted and sentenced to 10 months in jail and ordered to make restitution for $68,782.22.

That was in May 2011. So far, the Caldarozzi's haven't seen a dime.

At one point, they dispatched a sheriff to Lee's new place of work to try to collect. The sheriff was told she no longer worked there.

"We have to do the chasing," said Bonnie Caldarozzi. "There's nothing to enforce her to force her to pay. There's no tie to her income tax return or to her driver's license or to her registration renewals or anything like that. There's nothing."

Joyce Robinson is aware of the problems in the system.

"Part of the challenge is that it is difficult to collect when you consider that it is criminal offenders that we're trying, or the person has to collect from," he said.

2 reasons why it's difficult to collect

Joyce Robinson says officials have learned anecdotally there are two reasons why it's difficult to collect.

He says "a lot of offenders may not be employed," which impacts their ability to pay.

"They may have other challenges in their life such as drug addictions or alcohol addictions. They may have mental health problems," said Joyce Robinson.

If the person doesn't have assets or money to pay the money back, it's hard for them to make restitution payments.

But the Caldarozzis don't believe Sherri Lee, who now goes by the name Sherri George, had any of the problems listed by Joyce Robinson.

"She was getting married at the time and she was buying antique furniture, a large screen television, Gucci and Prada purses, taking people in limousines to get their hair done," Peter Caldarozzi said.

"I owned the business and I can't even do that."

Caldarozzi said there needs to be some incentives to persuade criminals to make restitution.

"I think it should be attached to maybe your income tax, your driver's licence," he said.

Joyce Robinson said suggestions like that have merit.

"Those are certainly things that we're exploring," he said.

"We're looking at what possibilities can be used to increase those enforcement efforts. We have a restitution coordinator that we have sought federal funding to put that person in place."

The province has also waived the fees associated with trying to launch a civil restitution case.

'I'm not a bank'

The Caldarozzis have almost given up on getting any of their money back. Almost.

"My bottom line is I hope she finds a job that pays her well that she sticks to so we can get at least some of our money back," Peter Caldarozzi said.

"I don't want her to not work, go hungry or her child go hungry. I don't want any of that. But on the same hand, I do want my money back."

"She enjoyed the money," Bonnie Caldarozzi said.

"So you used the money, so now you need to pay it back. I'm not a bank. You have to pay it back."

"We feel really badly, because there's a lot of victims that are out a lot of money as a result of crime," said Joyce Robinson.

"Unfortunately there are significant costs to criminal behaviour and often that cost is borne by victims and that's why we try to do whatever we can to support [them] through the process to help them understand the challenges in collecting the money and doing everything we can to assist them to be successful in collecting," he said.

"But at the same time we have to temper their expectations with the reality that some offenders just will not pay or don't have the means to pay."

The Caldarozzis are getting ready to send sheriffs again to try to recover some of their money from George.

CBC attempted to contact George several times, but was not successful.