A Prince Edward County woman has been sentenced in a notorious fraud case, ending a years long legal saga.
In a Belleville court room on Monday, Jennifer Simao was sentenced to three and a half years of prison, after pleading guilty to multiple fraud charges where she stole a combined total of $788,000.
The charges she pleaded guilty to included three counts of fraud over $5000, and a count of obstructing justice. Two of the charges come from 2023, with the first related to over $700,000 of funds she had stolen from her then employer Impacto Protective Products. While awaiting trial in that case, she was employed by the Station Road Arts Collective, where she was accused of taking over $5000. More recently she had pleaded guilty to an additional fraud charge for stealing over $70,000 from her elderly mother, along with a charge for obstructing justice after it was determined she had submitted fake doctor’s notes to the court in order to delay proceedings.
Justice Robert Horton spoke about the sentencing decisions he had to make during the procedure. While outlining his reasoning for the sentence, he spoke about the impact the crimes had on the victims.
“It is heartbreaking,” said Justice Horton. “The clear emotional loss and pain endured by a mother who very clearly loved her daughter and only sought to care and support her adult life. And the callousness of this individual to steal from her her hard-earned living savings, relied upon like many seniors in our community, to simply survive.”
The justice also spoke about the impacts on the directors of the Station Road Arts Collective, who had to take out personal loans in order to cover shortfalls caused by Simao’s theft.
“Ms. Simao was fully aware of the damage she was causing, and shows her own wants above all else,” said Justice Horton. “The impact of Ms. Simao’s actions were and will continue to be; enormous, long lasting, and life-altering for her victims.”
The final sentence imposed was 42 months of prison, minus 6 months for time served, along with restitution orders for the people she’d harmed, forfeiture orders for property seized, and a 10 year prohibition on working any job where she has control over another person’s money or property. After that prohibition ends, she would be required to disclose her criminal history to any employer before starting the job.
