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Embezzlement guilty plea expected from former Abbotsford police finance officer

In 2017, the former Abbotsford Police Department employee was ordered to pay back more than $300,000 to the city, according to police.
Abbotsford police car
Abbotsford Police Department's former finance officer is expected to plead guilty to embezzlement on March 25. Photo: Abbotsford Police Department

The Abbotsford Police Department’s former finance officer is expected to plead guilty to one or more embezzlement-related charges in Vancouver Provincial Court on March 25.

In June 2020, RCMP said Shelley Dallas Mickens had been charged with breach of trust, fraud over $5,000 and theft over $5,000.

"This matter appears on your list for an intended guilty plea," Mickens' lawyer Michael Evans told Judge Maria Giardini on March 17.

It remains unclear what charge or charges a plea might address.

In court on Thursday, Evans told the judge his client is having health problems.

RCMP also said in 2020 that, in September 2017, a B.C. Supreme Court judge ordered Mickens to pay back more than $300,000 to the City of Abbotsford as part of parallel civic legal proceedings in the case.

The Surrey resident surrendered herself to police at the time and was arrested by investigators.

RCMP said Mickens held the role of finance director of the Abbotsford Police Department from 1999 to 2016.

The alleged offences reportedly happened from 2013 until Mickens’ retirement in the summer of 2016.

Shortly after her departure, an internal audit into the missing funds was done and the Abbotsford Police Department formally reached out to the RCMP and requested an investigation, which started in 2017.

Mickens is also known as Shelley Dallas Boyce or Shelley Dallas Bursill.

jhainsworth@glaciermedia.ca

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