Lloyd Carr is shown here walking to the Edmonton courthouse on Friday. (CBC)

Former Alberta bureaucrat Lloyd Carr was sentenced Friday in Edmonton to 3½ years in prison for defrauding the provincial government of $634,000.

The former executive director of the tobacco-reduction program at the Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission (AADAC) pleaded guilty in February to one count of fraud over $5,000.

He admitted diverting money from the program he ran into his own accounts between 2004 and 2006 to support a gambling addiction.

Carr's sentence was handed down in Alberta Court of Queen's Bench a day after it was revealed that he had lied about the kind of work he was doing while out on bail and had deceived his employer about his background and work experience.

A pre-sentencing report presented in court Monday said that Carr had told his probation officer he had been working as a house painter in Swan River, Man.

But Edmonton media were tipped off that, in fact, he had been working in Flin Flon, Man., for the NOR-MAN Regional Health Authority as a mental health clinician for children.

In court Friday, Judge Mary Moreau was told that when Carr applied for the job, he presented a fake bachelor of social work degree from the University of Calgary. He also falsely claimed to have work experience in Ontario.

A spokesperson for the Manitoba health authority said the agency was unaware of Carr's legal troubles until officials read about them in the media this week.

Carr, 46, had told the agency he had bowel cancer and had to travel to Winnipeg for surgery when in fact he was going to Edmonton for his sentencing hearing.

He was granted sick leave on the basis of a forged sick note from a doctor, Crown prosecutor Greg Lepp told the court Friday. "It's entirely possible Mr. Carr did the math and figured he could be out of jail before his sick leave had ended," Lepp said.

Tried to 'play us for fools'

Lepp told the judge the latest revelations show that Carr has displayed no sign of reforming his behaviour.

"Mr. Carr, at least today, is a leopard who hasn't changed his spots," Lepp said. "He attempted to put some makeup on, on Monday, but that makeup has come off. He attempted to play us for fools."

Carr arrived at the Edmonton courthouse Friday just before 1 p.m. MT, but was then arrested for breaching the conditions of his bail and escorted into court in handcuffs by a plainclothes police officer.

When the proceedings started, the officer watched Carr closely.

"Change is not an overnight journey; my journey isn't done," Carr said as he stood in the prisoner's box Friday. "I stand knowing I've been forgiven by the Lord."

Lies about bail time influenced sentence

On Monday, the Crown had requested a prison sentence of three to five years. Following the sentencing Friday, Lepp said the information about Carr's deception about his time out on bail made a difference in the judge's decision.

Crown prosecutor Greg Lepp says the revelations this week that Lloyd Carr lied about how he spent his time out on bail made a difference in his sentence. (CBC)"Primarily, as I indicated to the court, because the court has to take into account what kind of candidate Mr. Carr is for rehabilitation and reformation, and his behaviour that was exhibited in court, takes that off the table in the Crown's view," Lepp said.

Lepp said he was pleased with the sentence because it fell within what the Crown had recommended. The defence had requested a conditional sentence.

Lepp said he believes it is possible for some lawbreakers to reform.

"There's a certain category of offenders, though, that are far more serious than that, and they will continue to reoffend, and they reoffend habitually," Lepp said. "I think Mr. Carr's got some serious work to do if he's going to be turning the rest of his life around.

"The same behaviour that he exhibited at ADAAC, he's now exhibiting in Manitoba, and he tried the same stunt with his lawyer, with the probation officer, with the police, the Crown, the judge, but it didn't work today."