Former IWK CEO sentenced to 9 months in jail for fraud
CBC
A former Nova Scotia health-care executive has been sentenced to nine months in jail for defrauding a Halifax hospital of more than $30,000 by using her corporate credit card to pay for personal expenses.
As she concluded her sentencing decision for Tracy Kitch, provincial court Judge Ronda van der Hoek said the sentence should serve as a message to public officials that committing fraud should result in a jail cell door locking behind offenders.
Kitch's lawyer had been asking for a conditional sentence order, better known as house arrest. But the judge agreed with the Crown that house arrest was not sufficient.
During a sentencing hearing earlier this month, Kitch admitted that she had failed to properly prioritize oversight of expense claims she filed with the IWK Health Centre, the largest children's hospital east of Montreal.
Kitch said she was ultimately responsible for the performance of the hospital, as well as the decisions and practices related to her expenses.
She repaid the money after the misspending was discovered. In her decision, van der Hoek noted that Kitch continues to maintain that she did nothing wrong. Crown prosecutor Peter Dostal said that attitude worked against Kitch.
He said Kitch lacks insight into the gravity of her crime and the impact on both the public and the hospital itself.
Her conviction in September marked the second time she was convicted of defrauding the hospital where she served as CEO between 2014 and 2017.
In March 2023, the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal quashed the initial conviction, having decided the first trial judge failed to adequately explain his reasons for convicting Kitch.
Kitch's lawyer has already served notice that Kitch plans to again appeal her conviction and she is likely to be released from jail while that appeal makes its way through the courts.
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