CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — A P.E.I. man who took $25,000 from his employer on his second day of work will be back in court in August for sentencing on two counts of fraud.
Mark Christopher Raymer, 36, appeared before Justice Gregory Cann in P.E.I. Supreme Court in Charlottetown Tuesday where the lawyers made their sentencing submissions.
Reading from an agreed statement of facts, Crown attorney Lisa Goulden told the court one of the fraud charges relates to a company in Halifax where Raymer worked as a bookkeeper for several months in 2018.
The court heard an employee discovered Raymer had deposited a $25,000 cheque into his bank account through mobile banking on his second day of work.
That money was later returned to the business after the fraud was reported.
Goulden said the employee found four other cheques made payable to Raymer on different dates for a total of $34,238.10.
The second fraud charge involved a business in P.E.I. where Raymer told his employer he had paid the Canada Revenue Agency, the Canada Pension Plan, the Workers Compensation Board and HST bills with money from the company’s bank account.
Instead, the business owner was later informed he owed about $55,000 for non-payment.
Goulden told the court Raymer sent himself e-transfers totaling $22,456.19 he said were to pay on the HST and payroll accounts.
He also invoiced the company for work he didn’t perform.
The court heard that in total, the business was out $26,574.35 because of Raymer’s fraud.
Goulden said Raymer later admitted to police that he had been embezzling money from the business along with other clients for a few years.
During her submissions, Goulden said Raymer’s actions put the P.E.I. company in legal jeopardy, it hasn’t fully recovered from the financial loss and bankruptcy is being considered.
Prior to the offences for which Raymer was most recently in court, he was also convicted of fraud under $5,000 and fraud over $5,000 in 2018.
While those matters were before the courts, Raymer was subject to an undertaking, which included a condition he not have a job that gave him access to a company’s bank accounts.
He breached that condition by working for the company in Halifax and was fined $1,000 in 2019.
Raymer’s criminal record also included a 2013 conviction for sexual exploitation.
During Tuesday’s proceedings, the Crown and defence made a joint submission on a sentence of two years in prison with three years of probation and an order to pay restitution to the victims.
That recommendation also included an order prohibiting Raymer from working or volunteering for seven years in any position that gave him control over real property or money.
After hearing the sentencing submissions, Raymer spoke, saying he apologized to the businesses and for taking the court’s time.
“It was very wrong. It was deceitful,” he said.
Cann adjourned the matter until Aug. 13 for sentencing.
