County statements on former employee charged with theft and fraud

The following statements are in response to the RCMP news release (attached at the end of this release for reference).

From Chief Commissioner Darrell Reid:

“This matter has weighed heavily on us for several months as we value transparency. When the Executive Team first heard there were concerns, we took immediate action to investigate. Furthermore, upon investigation, we determined we needed to hand over the investigation to the RCMP and we have been cooperating fully with them. We can confirm that the individual is no longer in our employment. We also briefed Council as soon as we could and they in turn took immediate action and ordered an independent, forensic audit. We have an array of checks, balances and policies in place when it comes to our financial systems and assets and it is due to these checks and balances that the matter came before us. Due to the nature of the charges, a review of those systems was conducted to ensure no further incidents of this nature. We are confident that the events are isolated in nature, and we have tightened some processes to ensure no further incidents like this can occur. If any staff member or member of the public ever suspects any wrongdoing, we encourage them to report that immediately. The matter is now in the legal system and we do have to respect that process.”

From Mayor Rod Frank:

“Council first learned of this matter in June 2022. As this was an important and urgent matter, within 24 hours of being briefed Council took steps to order an independent, forensic audit. The auditors reported directly to Council, not to Administration. The audit findings were presented to Council in November and due to the ongoing RCMP investigation as well as privacy considerations were not disclosed publicly. The matter is now in the legal system, and we will have no further comments while the matter is under judicial process.”

Strathcona County RCMP arrest male for fraud offences (213.5 KB)

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Contact: Strathcona County Communications, 780-410-6595