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A Regina woman has been charged with defrauding a sexual assault centre in the city.
Police said they received a tip on June 22, 2016, about a senior employee of the Regina Sexual Assault Centre (RSAC) allegedly taking money from the agency.
The offences reportedly took place between 2009 and 2016.
After a seven-month investigation, 63-year-old Debra Lynn House was arrested without incident on Jan. 27, 2017.
House faces four “global charges,” which allege numerous incidents of the same offence over an extended period of time.
She’s been charged with fraud over $5,000, making a forged document, uttering a forged document and theft over $5,000.
The RSAC, a non-government agency, put out a written statement about House’s arrest:
“The Regina Sexual Assault Centre (RSAC) wishes to reassure the Regina community, our clients, and our donors that the Centre remains fully operational.
We are, and will continue to be, devoted to our Mission: as an inclusive, non-profit organization of trained councilors who are dedicated to helping reduce the trauma of interrelationship violence and sexual assault through support and education.
We are saddened that an individual would abuse their position of trust and authority for personal gain. The actions of this single individual do not reflect the Values, Mission and Vision of RSAC, and therefore this individual is no longer an employee of the Centre. Furthermore, the Centre has made policy improvements for financial oversight to ensure that this never happens again.
The actions of a single person will not detract RSAC from the very real services we provide the community. The Centre received 20 new sexual assault clients in the month of October alone. Saskatchewan has one of the highest rates of both child and adult sexual assaults in Canada. As such, The Regina Sexual Assault Centre remains dedicated to providing:
- Free, qualified counselling services for male, female and child survivors of sexual abuse;
- a 24-hour Crisis Line;
- Abuse prevention education and community outreach.”
House was scheduled to appear in court Monday morning.
