A Victoria paralegal has been sentenced to three years in prison after embezzling nearly $350,000 from her employer by disguising payments to herself as routine office expenses.
Melissa Jane Cielen, 49, pleaded guilty to embezzling $343,077.28, which she used to support her alcohol and cocaine use, according to a provincial court decision. She has been ordered to repay the money as part of her sentencing.
Cielen worked as a paralegal for a Victoria lawyer from 2010 to 2022, and her work included some managerial duties, such as paying office bills.
Between 2018 and 2022, Cielen transferred money to herself by disguising the payments as “court fees,” “litigation support vendors,” and “office expenses-cabinet,” among other fraudulent explanations.
Cielen began to abuse alcohol and cocaine in 2018, the same year she was diagnosed with cervical cancer, the decision says. In 2021, she was admitted to hospital, where she was diagnosed with severe alcohol-use disorder and moderate cocaine-use disorder.
A psychiatrist who prepared a pre-sentence report determined Cielen is not suffering from a major mental illness such as psychosis or serious mood disorder. She appears to have some depressive symptoms, such as low self-esteem, feelings of worthlessness and hopelessness, sleep disturbance and intermittent suicidal ideation.
The psychiatrist found Cielen to have a low risk to reoffend.
The Crown sought a three-year prison sentence, while Cielen’s defence lawyer proposed a conditional sentence of two years minus one day to be served in community. Both lawyers agreed Cielen should be ordered to repay the stolen money.
Judge Ted Gouge wrote in his sentencing decision that deterrence, one of the objectives of sentencing in criminal cases, is particularly important in embezzlement cases, because it is a crime that requires forethought and planning.
“In many cases, as in this one, it is carried out over a period of years. The potential offender has plenty of time to consider the potential consequences of their actions,” Gouge wrote.
