Kelowna.com - Kelowna. Right Now!

By Joe Fries

Swimming in an oversized, tan pantsuit accessorized with white skateboarding shoes, Christie Ethier appeared anything but the convincing young con woman who concocted the fake identification necessary to drain $12,000 from other people’s bank accounts.

The petite woman, who looks much younger than her 20 years, appeared in Kelowna provincial court this morning for sentencing on 15 counts relating to a seven-month crime spree that involved mail theft, fraud, personation, break and enters, and much more.

By virtue of her young age, guilty pleas and lack of a prior criminal record, she escaped with a sentence of house arrest, along with a stern warning that the term could turn into real jail time if she violates any of the conditions attached to her punishment.

Crown counsel Colin Forsyth said Ethier’s scams, some of which involved fake government-issued photo identification, demonstrated a high degree of sophistication.

“That’s not something you do in an arts-and-crafts class,” he remarked.

“And when she did steal money, it was not in the nickel-and-dime sense.”

More interesting, Forsyth noted that a pre-sentencing report did not indicate that Ethier was using the ill-gotten cash to feed a drug habit, as one might expect.

“This was plain and simple greed,” he said.

Ethier admitted to Judge Brad Chapman that some of the cash did go towards a habit – gambling – but the rest she used to support herself. A former foster child with a Grade 9 education, she said she had a tough time finding an affordable place to live as an adult. Eventually she found a home, but the $900-a-month rent was too steep, until she discovered how to turn a profit from identity theft.

“I met this guy and he showed me some of the things I was doing, and finally I could afford my own place,” she told court.

Chapman handed down the maximum conditional sentence term of two years less a day. The first 16 months include 24-house arrest, with the balance under a 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew. She’s to abstain from drugs and alcohol and not be in the driver’s seat of any vehicle without the registered owner present or without written permission from the owner.

Ethier was ordered not to possess break-in tools or identification, debit cards or credit cards that don’t belong to her, and must also complete 50 hours of community service. A year of probation with similar conditions is to follow.

Chapman made a standalone restitution order under which three banks can go after Ethier for repayment of a total of $12,081.90.

Here, in chronological order, are the offences for which Ethier was sentenced this morning:

*Nov. 3, 2008
Personation with intent to gain advantage; Theft under $5,000; Theft over $5,000
Using stolen mail, Ethier was able to get the necessary identification to obtain a replacement debit card on someone else’s account at a BMO branch in Kelowna. That card was then used to make withdrawals totalling $5,216.40. The same scheme was used to steal from another Kelowna women’s CIBC account this January, to the tune of $2,788.80.

*Nov. 7, 2008
Possession of stolen property under $5,000
A Money Mart employee in Kelowna called police after Ethier tried to cash two cheques totalling $3,000 using a forged birth certificate and citizenship card to match one of the names on the notes. Ethier fled before cops arrived. The cheques had been stolen from someone’s mail.

*Dec. 19, 2008
Fraud under $5,000
In Coquitlam, Ethier presented an Alberta driver’s licence and B.C. Care Card under an assumed name when she tried to make a withdrawal at a TD Bank branch. The teller thought the Care Card looked suspicious and asked Ethier for her birth date, which didn’t match the one on file. The bank employee phoned police. The woman who was the target of the fraud told police her passport was missing and she had also received a bill from Wal-Mart for items she never purchased. It seems Ethier was able to withdraw $2,500 at a different TD Bank branch.

*Jan. 5, 2009
Theft under $5,000
Cops respond to a theft complaint from one of the managers of an apartment building on the 1500 block of Spall Road in Kelowna. The manager had been reviewing surveillance video and saw Ethier take mail from mail boxes inside the building. Ethier managed to open the large panel covering all of the individual boxes, which are supposed to be accessible only by letter carriers and the box owners.

*April 22, 2009
Break and enter
A different manager at the same Spall Road apartment block spots Ethier on surveillance video as she uses a screwdriver to force her way into the building. Ethier leaves a few minutes later when she is unable to open the mail boxes.

*April 27, 2009
Break and enter
Same place, different time. Ethier is seen on video around 1 a.m. entering the apartment building after the entry door fails to latch behind a group of men that just left. Ethier then uses a key to open the mailboxes and is seen rooting through residents’ mail.

*May 9, 2009
Possession of break-in tools; Obstructing a peace officer
Just after 1 a.m., cops arrive at a condominium development on Franklyn Road and find residents holding Ethier. She had been caught inside a storage locker area located in a secure underground parking lot. A snowboard had been moved and padlocks cut off some of the lockers. Ethier gives police a fake name, and a screwdriver falls out of her pocket as she’s talking to the cops.

*May 15, 2009
Possession of break-in tools; Possession of crystal meth
Mounties on patrol spot a stolen car on Gibson Road and place it under surveillance. Officers pull over the driver and Ethier then emerges from the passenger side. She’s arrested and cops find a homemade mailbox key and crystal meth in her possession.

*May 28, 2009
Breach of recognizance (2); Breach of undertaking
Ethier is released on bail by a justice of the peace following her arrest May 15. To ensure she’s in compliance with the 10 p.m. curfew attached to that order, cops go to her Kelowna residence around 10:20 p.m. The other woman at the house says Ethier left earlier in a white Saturn sedan. Cops spot the car around 11:30 p.m. and pull it over. Ethier is found behind the wheel, and on the back seat, Mounties find a purse containing $795 and a citizenship card in someone else’s name, but with Ethier’s picture on it. The three breaches are for violating curfew, being in a vehicle without the registered owner present, and possessing fake ID.

Tags: christie ethier, colin forsyth, fake id, fraud, identity theft, judge brad chapman, personation

This entry was posted on Monday, November 30th, 2009 at 4:30 pm and is filed under Court, Kelowna, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.