Woman accused of concealing 6 dead babies defrauded senior
The woman charged with concealing six infants was just in court last month being sentenced on fraud charges.
Andrea Giesbrecht, 40, has been charged with six counts of concealing bodies of infants and breaching probation after the bodies were found in a U-Haul storage locker on Monday afternoon.
A court decision from December 2013, shows Giesbrecht wrote fraudulent cheques to a Winnipeg woman, who was a friend of her parents, to pay back money she lent her. During the sentencing hearing, court heard the amount was $7,850.
At a sentencing hearing on Sept. 30, court heard Giesbrecht has a gambling problem and marriage problems. She also has little money to pay the woman back as she works at Tim Hortons and has two young boys.
In the hearing, it was revealed that Giesbrecht moved into her parents' home after they passed away and that's how she got to know the woman who lent her the money.
Giesbrecht told the woman, who was 73 at the time, she needed money to pay bills and the house was going to be re-possessed.
Giesbrecht promised to pay the woman back as she was getting $25,000 to $30,000 from her father's life insurance.
Court heard the woman gave Giesbrecht money four different times.
At one point, the woman was supposed to meet Giesbrecht at a bank to get the money paid back, but discovered Giesbrecht didn't bank there and hadn't for at least two years.
Defrauded woman felt sorry for Giesbrecht
The woman also said she felt sorry for Giesbrecht because she was having problems with her marriage.
Court heard when the woman was asked by police if she thought she would ever get her money back, she said she didn't expect that she wouldn't.
"No. I felt sorry for her. She has no father or mother as they passed away and she said she was having problems in her marriage and said she has two young boys so I really thought she needed the money. My husband warned me not to because she always came by when she knew he wasn't there," she said.
Court heard the woman also felt "taken advantage of."
The Crown said in a pre-sentence report that Giesbrecht had a gambling addiction and the report showed she is a "low risk to re-offend."
The Crown also said Giesbrecht had a good upbringing, had "great" relationship with her parents and family members - including her husband - were aware of her addiction. That addiction had been going on for 14 years.
In a victim impact statement dated March 20, 2014, the victim said Giesbrecht was an only child and she tried to get her to pay back the money.
"I am 73 years old. My pension and old age security benefits are small. I continue to work in the housecleaning staff of a seniors' residence to make ends meet," the woman's statement said, adding she gets up at 4:30 a.m. to be across town for 6:30 a.m.
"I'm very sad and disappointed by these events. I always saw the best in people and trusted them. Now I find I am suspicious of people. I feel distraught and severely taken advantage of by Andrea Giesbrecht. She exploited my trust and stole from me," the woman's statement said.
Crime called despicable
The Crown called the crime "despicable."
The defence said Giesbrecht wanted to pay the money back and she was "always going to make the slot machine come through for me."
The defence said Giesbrecht didn't have much money and she works at Tim Hortons. Her parents were also gamblers and their home had liens on it.
In the end, the judge sentenced her to two years suspended sentence with supervised probation with conditions to get counselling, not gamble, write an apology to the victim and start paying restitution of $200 per month starting Oct. 15, 2014.
Other court documents show Giesbrecht also got a loan of $3,300 from a different woman. A civil suit filed said Giesbrecht also tried to pay the money back using fraudulent cheques.
