KAWARTHA LAKES-Former Kawartha Lakes Paramedic Chief Derek Brown was sentenced to 12 months of house arrest and 6 months probation as well as an ankle bracelet for electronic monitoring, in a local courtroom today.
Brown plead guilty on October 22nd to charges of Fraud, Use Forged Document and Fraud in connection with duties of his office by making unauthorized purchases, according to court documents.
Today, Justice Broderick said Brown had charged $16,359.08 in personal purchases on a corporate credit card over a lengthy period of time and then tried to conceal the purchases using forged documents. Brown has already paid those funds back and as well as an additional $11,000 to reimburse the city for the cost of an audit.
“Mr Brown has accepted his responsibility by his guilty plea and submitted a letter of apology, remorse and acknowledgment of how his actions harmed the community.” said Justice Broderick.
Brown was fired by the City in April of 2019 after an internal investigation into financial irregularities and breach of trust led the City to contact the City of Kawartha Lakes Police Service.
In October of 2019 Brown was charged with eight counts of fraud under $5,000, eight counts of uttering a forged document and one count of breach of trust.
Andrew Rafton was later named Chief.
Long time Chief Keith Kirkpatrick retired in January 2019 after being at the helm since 2011. Brown was named Acting Chief shortly after.
Brown told the court that at the time of his offences he was struggling with a toxic workplace and felt unappreciated and not in control over his workplace. According to the evidence the offences were committed before he became acting chief and once his supervisor’s tenure ended, Brown stopped the fraudulent actions.
In 2019 Brown was on the Sunshine List of the provinces highest paid, public sector employees making almost $134,000
