A former constituency office employee of Victoria-Swan Lake MLA Rob Fleming has pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud over $5,000.
Marni Ruth Offman, 45, appeared in Victoria provincial court Wednesday. Through her lawyer, Jeff Johnston, she pleaded guilty to defrauding the constituency office of more than $5,000 between March 24, 2009, and Nov. 28, 2015, and from Jan. 9, 2009 to May 13, 2010.
Dirk Ryneveld, a Victoria lawyer appointed as special prosecutor by the attorney general, stayed three other charges of theft over $5,000 and forgery.
Ryneveld asked provincial court Judge David Pendleton to order a forensic psychiatric pre-sentence report to assist at sentencing. Johnston said he agreed the court would benefit from the report, and his client would co-operate. The report is expected to take seven to eight weeks to prepare, said Johnston.
The court is expected to receive the report Jan. 11, 2017. After that, a date will be set for Offman’s sentencing. Offman left without talking to reporters.
Outside court, Ryneveld explained the significance of the forensic psychiatric report.
“In complex cases, where it’s not only important to know what happened but why it happened, a court would be assisted greatly by knowing the background of a particular accused and what may have prompted the offences to have been committed,” he said.
“It’s in the interests of justice that a court sentence a person with as much background as they could possibly have, and a forensic psychiatric report is the best tool in order to assist the court.”
In July, Fleming issued a statement saying he made a complaint to Victoria police “after making the shocking discovery that funds were missing from my office.”
“This has been a very disturbing matter for me because it involves someone I worked closely with. Constituency office employees have the trust of the MLA and the community they serve, so it is gravely disappointing to have that trust violated.”
ldickson@timescolonist.com
