GuelphMercury.com - News - Guelph embezzler jailed four years – stole $2.5 million from employer
Guelph embezzler jailed four years – stole $2.5 million from employer
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Email the author More StoriesDecember 03, 2009
Scott Tracey
stracey@guelphmercury.comGUELPH—Stealing $2.5 million from his employer and spending it all on a lavish lifestyle that included vacations and vehicles led to a man being sentenced Thursday to four years in prison.
Kirk McWhirter, 34, who was born in Guelph and raised in Mount Forest, admitted defrauding Olympic Honda of $2.5 million, and defrauding Royal Bank of $75,000 by using forged Olympic Honda cheques to pay off his personal Visa card.
McWhirter began working in the accounting department of the Guelph car dealer in 1999 and eventually worked his way up to the position of acting general manager. During this time he had cheque-signing authority and full access to the company’s books and payroll system.
He quit in December 2006 while under pressure to provide documents for a year-end financial review. Guelph Police were contacted in early 2007 after an audit revealed inconsistencies, Crown attorney Jocelyn Speyer told the court.
Speyer said between 2001 and March 2007, McWhirter used 101 Olympic Honda cheques without authorization and either deposited these funds into his own account or made them payable to individuals or other companies to cover McWhirter’s personal expenses.
During the first nine months of 2006, McWhirter also used the Olympic Honda payroll system to illegally pay himself $42,000 on top of his regular salary.
McWhirter manipulated the books so it appeared everything was balancing out.
Speyer said the fraud continued even after McWhirter left his job. In early 2007, he used an Olympic Honda cheque for $30,000 to pay his personal Visa account. The cheque had already been used in 2004, but McWhirter altered it to appear new and RBC “was fooled by this altered document,” Speyer said.
McWhirter used a similar method to re-use a $45,000 Olympic Honda cheque to pay off his credit card.
The police investigation revealed McWhirter spent money “without hesitation” on clothing, trips, vehicles, food and car parts, court heard.
Defence counsel Brennan Smart said there is “no prospect” of his client paying the money back.
“This is not a sophisticated or cunning individual who stashed away a lot of money to live the high life after he left the dealership,” Smart said, noting McWhirter’s use of old cheques to pay his credit card bills. “He was spending the money as quickly as he could steal it.”
In asking Justice Norman Douglas to endorse the joint submission for a four-year sentence, Speyer noted a victim impact statement filed by Olympic Honda owner David Brewis speaks to the “devastating effect” of the crime on the family-run business.
Speyer said the facts of the case make it clear the business “was conducted in a way that was based on trust” and can no longer do so.
Douglas, who called the crimes “a calculated, pre-meditated, long-lasting scheme to rip someone off,” seemed perplexed at the evidence McWhirter spent all the stolen money.
“That’s a fortune and I’m told he doesn’t have a dime to his name,” the judge said. “I’m baffled.”
Before being led away, McWhirter apologized to the court, community, his family and the Brewis family.
“I screwed up,” he said, his voice cracking. “I can’t explain my actions.”
Outside court, David Brewis said the sentence was just, but expressed some pity for McWhirter.
“I forgive him his actions ... but I can never forget,” Brewis said. “He’s impacted my life forever.
“I feel badly about what (McWhirter) is facing now, but obviously he’s done it to himself.”
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