Photo: Nicholas Johansen
UPDATE: 11:30 a.m
In sentencing Saunders to five years in prison, Supreme Court Justice Steve Wilson rejected defense attorney Brian Fitzpatrick’s request for a suspended sentence.
Judge Wilson said Saunders put his own interests above all others and his motivation was greed.
“I don’t find that he has any remorse and even now he’s looking to blame others,” Judge Wilson said.
He ruled that a suspended sentence was inappropriate in the case because Saunders committed very serious crimes over several years motivated by greed and a prison sentence was required.
He also said the vulnerability of the young man Saunders was supposed to protect was an aggravating factor in the length of the sentence.
“Mr. Saunders was indifferent to how his actions would affect the young person he wanted to help,” the judge added.
He accepted that the former guardianship worker did not deliberately set out to harm, but again pointed out that Saunders put himself first, and did not just choose to continue defrauding the Ministry of Child and Family Development of BC and the taxpayers, the amount of money that went up until he was caught.
Saunders was arrested immediately after the hearing concluded.
The judge rejected Fitzpatrick’s request to recommend his client serve his sentence at the William Head Minimum Security Federal Correctional Institution on Vancouver Island. It is up to Correctional Services Canada to determine where Saunders is incarcerated.
A group of social workers were pleased and relieved with the sentence as they left the Kelowna courthouse.
Judge Wilson’s full written decision will be published at a later date.
Photo: Cindy White
A group of MCFD social workers leave the Kelowna courthouse after former colleague Robert Riley Saunders was sentenced to five years in prison.
ORIGINAL 10:48 a.m
Robert Riley Saunders has been sentenced to five years in prison. Judge Wilson fixed the sentence at five years for fraud, two years for breach, to be served concurrently, and one month for forgery.
Saunders, a former Ministry of Children and Family Development social worker, pleaded guilty in September last year to defrauding the ministry of more than $460,000, depriving vulnerable Indigenous youth in its care.
Saunders pleaded guilty last year to three of the 13 charges he faced; fraud over $5,000, breach of trust in relation to his duties as a child protection worker and use of a forged document.
Before his sentencing, Saunders expressed “sincere remorse” and said he was sorry for his employer, his co-workers and the young people and families affected. Saunders said she wished she could go back in time to be the voice of reason to advise her younger self.
He had been charged with multiple counts of fraud over $5,000, breach of trust and forging a college degree, which he used to get a job with the MCFD in 1996.
The Crown was seeking a prison sentence of between six and eight years, while defense lawyer Brian Fitzpatrick argued his client is remorseful and suggested two years of house arrest followed by three years of probation.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.