FILE PHOTO – Robert Riley Saunders.
Image Credit: Global Okanagan (with permission)
March 21, 2022 – 4:56 PM
A disgraced former ministry social worker at the center of a class-action lawsuit after being accused of stealing from youth, appeared in Kelowna court today as his sentencing hearing got underway.
Robert Riley Saunders pleaded guilty last year to breach of trust, fraud and forgery. He appeared in Kelowna court as part of a Gardiner hearing today, March 21. A Gardiner hearing is when evidence is called during sentencing after an accused pleading person has entered a guilty plea.
Gordon Comer, deputy director with the BC Prosecution Service, said the hearing is scheduled for this week but he did not yet have a final sentencing date.
Last year, Saunders admitted he forged a degree from the University of Manitoba to get his job at the Ministry of Social Work and Childcare Development. Regardless of the forgery, he was still considered to be an agent of the ministry and breached the trust afforded to him.
While he pleaded guilty to just one count of fraud, the Crown said last year that a seven-day hearing this month would set out impacts to each of his fraud victims as factors that should earn him a steeper jail sentence.
Justice Paul Riley heard last year Saunders was an assistant supervisor assigned to a team dealing with roughly 60 high-risk Indigenous youth in Kelowna. He is accused of stealing thousands of dollars from them.
READ MORE: Robert Riley Saunders pocketed nearly $500,000 from fraud
The Ministry of Children and Family Development settled a class-action lawsuit last year, which alleged that Saunders “defrauded many children in the care of the Ministry of their food, clothing and shelter allowances.”
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