Durham police lay charges in alleged $700K fraud involving female hockey league
Durham police have charged a suspect in connection with an alleged fraud that saw some $700,000 transferred from the coffers of a women’s hockey league over several years.
The Financial Crimes Unit launched an investigation in December 2020 after receiving reports about “irregularities” in banking transactions for the Lower Lakes Female Hockey League (LLFHL).
Police said Friday that a “comprehensive” investigation analyzed several years of the league’s financial statements and found that more than $700,000 of league funds were transferred from the LLFHL’s bank accounts to various other accounts between early 2017 and 2020.
Investigators did not say whether the funds were directed toward any particular purpose.
“The suspect was employed as the league administrator and treasurer, whose duties included managing the finances of the league,” police said in a release.
Investigators said Friday that 56-year-old Sonya Spicer (Schram) of Whitby has been charged with fraud over $5,000; possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000 and obtain by false pretence over $5,000.
She was released on an undertaking.
The Lower Lakes Female Hockey League had operated under the Ontario Women’s Hockey League but is no longer active, police told CP24.com. While their website remains up, there is no current content.
None of the funds have been recovered to date, police said.
Durham police told CP24.com that the investigation remains active.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Bodies found by U.S. authorities searching for missing B.C. kayakers
United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
'It's discriminatory': Individuals refused entry to Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
BREAKING Mounties will not be charged in shooting death of B.C. Indigenous man
Three Mounties in British Columbia will not face charges in the killing of a 38-year-old Indigenous man on Vancouver Island in 2021.
Canada's favourite sport to watch is hockey, survey shows
The 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs have already delivered a fever level of fan excitement in Canada.
Douglas DC-4 plane with 2 people on board crashes into river outside Fairbanks, Alaska
A Douglas C-54 Skymaster airplane crashed into the Tanana River near Fairbanks on Tuesday, Alaska State Troopers said.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
'It's just so hard to let it go': Umar Zameer still haunted by death of Toronto police officer
“It's just so hard to let it go. I mean, everyone is telling me, ‘you have to move on,’ but I know someone is not here [anymore]. So I don't know how I will move on." That’s what Umar Zameer, the man recently acquitted in the death of a Toronto police officer, told CTV News Toronto in a sit-down interview on Tuesday.
NASA hears from Voyager 1, the most distant spacecraft from Earth, after months of quiet
NASA has finally heard back from Voyager 1 again in a way that makes sense. The most distant spacecraft from Earth hadn't sent home any understandable data since last November.