One of Lloyd Carr's former co-workers says the disgraced Alberta bureaucrat lied about being a former player for the Toronto Maple Leafs when she worked with him in British Columbia in the early 1990s, CBC News has learned.

"I mean I'm not a hockey fan or anything. So I never thought to check or I never thought twice. I just believed him," the woman has told CBC News.

Lloyd Carr pleaded guilty in February to diverting money from the provincial government program he ran into his own accounts between 2004 and 2006 to support a gambling addiction. (CBC)"But of course he didn't play there. He didn't play for the Toronto Maple Leafs. I've since checked."

Last month, the former executive director of the tobacco-reduction program at the Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission was sentenced in Edmonton to 3½ years in prison for defrauding the Alberta government of $634,000.

Carr pleaded guilty in February to diverting the money from the program he ran into his own accounts between 2004 and 2006 to support a gambling addiction.

It was discovered that Carr had lied about the kind of work he was doing while he was on bail and had deceived his employer about his background and work experience.

A pre-sentencing report presented in an Alberta provincial court on April 12 said 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 18 months with the NOR-MAN Regional Health Authority as a mental health clinician for children.

When Carr applied for the Flin Flon job, he presented a fake bachelor of social work degree from the University of Calgary, the court heard. He also falsely claimed to have work experience in Ontario.

Carr, 46, had also 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.

The former co-worker, who has asked CBC not to disclose her identity in order to protect her current job, worked with Carr between 1992 and 1993 as high school counsellors in Invermere, B.C.

The two worked with parents and teachers, and helped counsel students about drug and alcohol abuse.

According to the woman, Carr did a good job and was respected by his co-workers.

Carr said he had ties federal government

Carr's lies, however, didn't end with his supposed NHL career, the woman said.

Carr also told co-workers that he had ties to the federal government.

She said Carr told them he was flying to the East Coast with then federal health minister David Dingwall because he had organized a national conference on tobacco reduction.

None of that was true.

She said she only found out about Carr's lies when news about his fraud was reported nationally in 2006.

Jonathan Naylor, editor of the Flin Flon Reminder, said the town was shocked by Carr's lies.

"There was obviously a lot of surprise, especially from the parents who had their children seeing this individual," Naylor said.

Naylor said it's surprising Carr was able to create such a vast web of lies in an era when Googling someone's name and background only takes a few seconds.

"There was general shock, I think it's fair to say, that in this day and age somebody can pull this off," Naylor said.

"That they can have no qualifications … and they can have embezzled the Alberta government out of all this money."

Corliss Patterson, a spokesperson for NOR-MAN Regional Health Authority, told CBC News that the agency has conducted its own investigation into Carr and has forwarded the information to Flin Flon RCMP.

It's now up to the RCMP to decide whether criminal charges related to fraud and misrepresentation will be pursued.

Patterson said NOR-MAN is also tightening up its hiring procedures.

The agency has sent letters to all the parents whose children received care from Carr to apologize, Patterson said.

Carr's former co-worker said she believes Carr will always be a con artist.

"I think he's probably going to sit in jail for 3½ years and dream up other ways to con [people]," she said.

With files from the CBC's Janice Johnston