In a recent review, the Parole Board of Canada deferred a decision on full parole for Robert Riley Saunders, a 54-year-old Kelowna resident who embezzled over $460,000 from the Ministry of Children and Family Development. Saunders was granted day parole last October, and while he has behaved well since then, the parole board expressed concerns about his history of fraud and the extent of his involvement in exploiting vulnerable youth. Saunders had worked as a case worker for the ministry for six and a half years, during which time he opened unauthorized bank accounts for the young people in his care and issued over 850 ministry cheques, totaling over $460,000.
The parole board noted that Saunders’s fraudulent activities spanned over two decades and that he had exploited a position of trust to commit the offenses. The board also considered the impact of Saunders’s actions on the vulnerable youth he was supposed to be helping. While Saunders has taken responsibility for his actions and has expressed remorse, the parole board concluded that a panel hearing is necessary to fully assess his risk and to determine whether he is ready for full parole.
Saunders’s day parole will be extended until the full parole hearing, and he will continue to be subject to strict conditions aimed at ensuring that he remains on his best behavior. The parole board emphasized the importance of victim safety and the need to ensure that Saunders does not return to his previous patterns of behavior.
