A Windsor woman has been sent to jail after pleading guilty to dozens of fraud-related charges, including fraud over and under $5000.
Audrey Bishop pleaded guilty last September, but on Monday victims had a chance to address her in person, hoping for closure in process.
Bishop was sentenced to three years behind bars, after admitting to duping thousands of dollars from trusting people, sometimes pretending she had cancer to get the money.
Court heard Bishop defrauded Mary Joann MacNeill and other victims of about $150,000, money Bishop must pay back.
“The emotional and the anxiety and the depression has led to physical problems… illnesses that I'll have for the rest of my life," says MacNeill.
MacNeill, a recent widow, lost $90,000 after Bishop convinced her she was being watched by mobsters.
“We couldn't ask for anymore because we would never get it so we have to be happy with three years," says MacNeill.
MacNeill and her daughter, Kelly Adam, both read victim impact statements before Justice Lloyd Dean.
Adam told the court the entire situation made her sick to think of one woman's selfish addiction to fraud.
“So many more people that we might never even know that this has affected," says Adam.
Defense lawyer Daniel Topp says Bishop's admission of guilt spared the victims a lengthy and traumatizing trial.
“Three years may seem like a small amount of time for some people looking at this type of crime, but it's a financial crime, she's going to the federal penitentiary for three years with violent offenders and people who do way more serious crime,” says Topp.
“So this is a very hefty sentence for someone on a financial crime a breach of trust."
The 53-year-old Bishop said in court "I am very, very sorry," before learning her fate.
