A 37-year-old man was sentenced to 16 months in prison after pleading guilty to stealing more than $28,000 in cash from two local businesses, Nov. 10.
According to Ron Hogan, the Crown prosecutor, Darren Lush stole more than $19,500 from a gift shop at the Columbia Icefield Centre over the course of three months before getting fired. Less than two months later Lush got caught stealing again, this time from Jasper Park Liqour where he pocketed more than $9,100.
Hogan told Jasper Provincial Court Lush was hired on April 10 to manage the Columbia Icefield Curio Shop. According to Hogan, Lush stole the money by returning items that weren’t sold and pocketing the cash. He was fired on June 23.
The owners estimate Lush likely stole closer to $23,000, but were unable to account for all of the missing money.
“The amount of money taken from me and my family is a lot, and I can tell you right now my insurance is not going to cover anything near that amount,” said Kevin Lee, owner of the store.
“I’ve come up to Jasper probably 20 times this summer. Don’t get me wrong I love this place, but coming up here for the wrong reasons is not a good thing,” said Lee, who lives in Vancouver.
Following Lush’s termination, he got a new job in early August at Jasper Park Liquor where he stole more than $9,100 in cash. He was fired on Sept. 2.
According to Hogan, police arrested Lush on Sept. 3 after reviewing the store’s surveillance video that showed him pocketing money from the cash register.
After being transported to the RCMP’s detachment he admitted to stealing between $6,000 and $8,000 in cash. At the time, the owners of the store believed Lush had stolen closer to $10,000, but were still trying to determine how much he actually stole.
In early September, Lush pled guilty in Jasper Provincial Court to stealing more than $9,000 from Jasper Park Liquor and breaching conditions related to the earlier offense at the gift shop. At the time, Judge J.P. Higgerty adjourned the matter for sentencing until the full amount was known.
Laurie Rodger, Lush’s defense counsel, described his client as a drug addict on Nov. 10.
“He’s been a drug addict pretty much continually since he was 19 years old,” said Rodger.
“He grew up in the Vancouver area and his intention of coming to Jasper originally was that he thought Jasper would be out in the country and there wouldn’t be any drugs around him, but when he got here he found there were perhaps more drugs here than where he was.”
Hogan and Rodger made a joint submission asking the judge to consider a concurrent sentence of 10 months, plus two years probation and restitution to pay back both businesses.
Judge M. White rejected the joint submission, stating the sentence should be consecutive, in effect lengthening the amount of time Lush would spend in jail.
“These are very distinct offences, in two different locations, the only similarity is the breach of trust,” said White.
“The concurrent recommendation is not, in my opinion, a proper recommendation.”
She also reminded both men that Lush had a lengthy criminal record in British Columbia.
Prior to sentencing, Lush apologized via CCTV for his actions.
“I truly want them to know that I feel so bad for what I did,” said Lush.
“I can’t even imagine what they’re going through … from the bottom of my heart I want to apologize to you guys.”
White had little sympathy for him during her sentencing.
“They trusted you not only as an employee, but they also had developed a friendship with you and you chose to breach their trust in you as an employee,” said White.
“You decided regularly, not once, not twice, regularly to take money over a short period of employment with both of these establishments and it was only because they detected it and fired you, that things got stopped.”
Following his sentencing, Tammy Vathje, owner of Jasper Park Liqour, described the experience as “shocking.”
“You think you know someone,” said Vathje. “We had drinks together, he had been to my home, he attended house warming parties, I even comforted him when he got a terminal diagnosis about his mom and you would think with those sorts of events you can trust this person.”
Reflecting on the experience, Vathje and Lee urged employers to do their due diligence before hiring.
“At the end of the day, there’s good people in this world and not so good people, I chose to believe I’m going to continue to work with good people, but I’m going to be a little more cautious next time I have to hire,” said Lee.
Vathje agreed, adding she is “dreading” hiring next summer.
Lush was sentenced to 16 months in prison, plus two years’ probation and ordered to make monthly payments to pay back both businesses. He was credited three months and nine days for time already served.
Paul Clarke
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