Nursing home workers get bail in $340K fraud
Last Updated: Friday, May 28, 2010 | 4:18 PM ET
CBC News
A mother and daughter charged with committing fraud against residents of an Ottawa long-term care facility where they worked have been released on bail.
The two women, who are from Embrun, Ont., are accused of stealing more than $340,000 from 18 residents at Cumberland Lodge.
Joanne Talbot-Brisson, 46, faces 25 charges, including breach of trust, fraud exceeding $5,000 and theft exceeding $5,000, in connection with incidents that occurred over more than a decade, Ottawa police said in a news release Thursday.
Her daughter, Josée Brisson, faces fewer charges for allegedly defrauding one person.
The two appeared in provincial court Friday. Talbot-Brisson was released on $20,000 bail, and her daughter was released on bail of $2,000.
Police allege Talbot-Brisson began working at Cumberland Lodge in 1998 by "falsely representing herself" as a registered nurse. A nurse's aide at the facility, Chantal Ruel, said Talbot-Brisson was the only registered nurse at Cumberland Lodge.
The Ottawa directory of long-term care residences lists her as the administrator of Cumberland Lodge, which has 64 units that can accommodate 84 residents.
Patient Jacqui Pellag, a blind resident of the facility, said the allegation that Talbot-Brisson was not a registered nurse is alarming.
"For blind people, it's really scary, because we go by people's voices, and we take people at face value, at least I do," said Pellag.
Conditions of the bail stipulate the two accused can't communicate with the residents they targetted or work or volunteer at any long-term care home.
The mother and daughter will be back in court on June 28.
With files from the CBC's Evan DyerShare Tools
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