RCMP Sergeant sheds more light on sentencing of former KRA President

An RCMP Sergeant says the case involving Nicole Rempel of Kleefeld moved through the court system quite quickly.

Sergeant Paul Manaigre says it was in February of 2019, when St. Pierre RCMP was notified regarding the alleged misappropriation of funds from the Kleefeld Recreation Association (KRA). He notes a forensic audit uncovered some irregularities in their accounting practices. Fast forward less than three and a half years, and a sentence was handed down this week to Nicole Rempel.

Manaigre says when it comes to financial matters like this one, there is a lot of time-consuming work. He notes investigators are examining a lot of paper documents, sometimes obtaining production orders which are basically search warrants. The investigator must review the material to determine what sort of offence if any, took place. Though the audit itself will provide a lot of information, Manaigre says there is a great amount of work required to prove the charges in court.

This week, Rempel was handed a six-month conditional sentence order, followed by 12 months of supervised probation, after she plead guilty to forgery charges. 

The wrongful acts committed by Rempel happened from about 2011 to 2018. Over the years, she held numerous titles with the KRA, including President, Secretary and Treasurer. 

In early 2021, Rempel was formally charged with fraud over $5,000 as well as using a forged document. She was served a Summons to appear in St. Pierre Provincial Court on March 23, 2021. Rempel plead guilty to forgery charges and was handed her sentence this week. Charges for fraud over $5,000 were stayed. 

As for why the fraud charges were stayed, Manaigre says perhaps it was a deal that was struck instead of going to trial. 

Manaigre says a conditional sentence order basically means that Rempel will be under house arrest for six months. There are a lot of conditions that Rempel will need to abide by. Following that, will be a year of probation. Manaigre says if conditions are breached for either the conditional sentence or the supervised probation, criminal charges could be laid and Rempel could be sent to jail.

Manaigre explains there are many factors that go into a judge's decision to order house arrest instead of jail time. This includes a person's criminal past, their motives and their current situation. He notes when it comes to a financial crime, the crown and defence have to come up with an idea as to what they deem to be a fit sentence, which in the end must be agreed upon by the judge.