Close X
Saturday, November 23, 2024
ADVT 
National

Trusted Caregiver Jailed For Stealing $260K From Elderly Couple In Port Coquitlam

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 18 Dec, 2018 10:55 PM

    PORT COQUITLAM, B.C. — A judge has sentenced a caregiver who built a close relationship with an elderly couple in Port Coquitlam, B.C., to 12 months in jail for stealing $260,000 from them.


    Antonette Dizon was sentenced in provincial court on Dec. 13 after pleading guilty to one count of fraud over $5,000.


    She admitted to almost daily withdrawals of up to $1,000 from the accounts of Henry and Helen Abfalter between January 2015 and April 2016 as she helped them with their daily needs, including banking.


    The thefts continued for months after Henry Abfalter died in September 2015 and Dizon had stopped working for the couple, who were in their late 80s.


    Court heard that Dizon, who is 50 years old, used the money to buy a new car, paid tuition for her daughter and sent money to family in the Philippines.


    The Crown had asked for up to 18 months in jail, but Judge Robin McQuillan said her guilty plea, remorse and lack of a criminal record warranted a year in jail and 18 months' probation.


    McQuillan wrote in his judgment that the woman's actions may not have been pre-meditated, but they weren't impulsive because the withdrawals continued over a 15-month period.


    "She had unlimited opportunities to reflect on what she was doing and to correct or at least stop her conduct. She did not do so."


    The judge said he was also mindful that Dizon had suffered humiliation arising from media attention on the case.


    Helen Abfalter has also since passed away and Dizon has been ordered to pay the remaining money owed, $105,000, to the Abfalter estate.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Elizabeth May Says She's Engaged: 'I Had A Crush On Him, He Had A Crush On Me'

    May said Monday she and John Kidder will be married in Victoria on April 22 and are planning a train trip from Vancouver to Ottawa shortly afterwards as their honeymoon.

    Elizabeth May Says She's Engaged: 'I Had A Crush On Him, He Had A Crush On Me'

    RAJ SANGHA, A Well Know Bhangra Promoter, Killed In Surrey Shooting

    According to some local reports, the victim of the shooting was approximately 41-yr-old RAJ SANGHA.

    RAJ SANGHA, A Well Know Bhangra Promoter, Killed In Surrey Shooting

    Liberals Go Cold On Talk About Right To Housing Law, Housing Groups Say

    OTTAWA — The federal Liberals aren't living up to a promise to legislate a right to housing, a group of housing and homelessness advocates say, and that's threatening the objectives of their own $40-billion housing strategy.

    Liberals Go Cold On Talk About Right To Housing Law, Housing Groups Say

    Man Killed Calgary Woman, Daughter Because Girlfriend Broke Up With Him: Crown

    Man Killed Calgary Woman, Daughter Because Girlfriend Broke Up With Him: Crown
    CALGARY — A man accused in a double murder killed a woman who was trying to protect a close friend and then silenced the woman's five-year-old daughter who was a witness, a Crown prosecutor suggested Monday.

    Man Killed Calgary Woman, Daughter Because Girlfriend Broke Up With Him: Crown

    'It's Bad:' Oshawa, Ont., Digests 'Devastating' GM Plant Closure

    'It's Bad:' Oshawa, Ont., Digests 'Devastating' GM Plant Closure
    OSHAWA, Ont. — Shell-shocked GM workers streamed into the rain and chill wind after their union sent them home on Monday amid word that their plant would be closing by the end of 2019, dealing a blow to a city and region once synonymous with the automaker.

    'It's Bad:' Oshawa, Ont., Digests 'Devastating' GM Plant Closure

    Politicians Promise Help For GM Workers; Stress That Saving Plant Hopeless

    Politicians Promise Help For GM Workers; Stress That Saving Plant Hopeless
    Provincial and federal leaders alike conceded the futility Monday of trying to persuade General Motors to keep its Oshawa, Ont., automotive plant running beyond 2019, and instead focused on ways to ease the pain of more than 2,500 workers who stand to lose their jobs.

    Politicians Promise Help For GM Workers; Stress That Saving Plant Hopeless