Sentencing appeal unveils harm-filled trail of fraudulence

Law360 Canada (January 17, 2025, 2:14 PM EST) --

John L. Hill

In the movie Catch Me if You Can, Leonardo DiCaprio portrays the notorious con artist Frank Abagale Jr., who poses as a doctor, lawyer and airline pilot before being apprehended by the FBI. The movie makes for good entertainment, but we seldom appreciate the harm that fraudsters can do to their unsuspecting victims.

That harm became the focus at the sentencing hearing of 52-year-old Brigitte Denise Cleroux when British Columbia Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes had to contend with the damage perpetrated by Cleroux posing as a nurse in three British Columbia hospitals (R. v. Cleroux, 2024 BCSC 2435).

In July 2024, Cleroux pleaded guilty to fraud, forgery, assault, and assault with a weapon arising from three indictments for crimes committed in Vancouver, Victoria, and Surrey, B.C. The court heard how Cleroux was on parole for crimes of "dishonesty" in Ontario and moved to B.C. in early 2019, where she applied for a position at a Surrey dental clinic under a fake name. While working at the clinic, Cleroux stole about $8,000 in cheques before she left the job in March 2020.

Three months later, she began working at B.C. Women's Hospital as a full-time nurse by using the name of a real nurse who was on leave at the time. There, she injected patients with powerful drugs even though she was unqualified to do so (She claimed later that she was a hairdresser but had taken some courses in nursing. The judge found her untrustworthy in her statement of qualifications.) Jabbing the patients with needles was the basis for the assault with a weapons charge.

Cleroux had been arrested in August 2023 by Ottawa police and pleaded guilty to seven charges, including fraud, assault with a weapon and personation. She was sentenced to seven years in prison in Ontario and has about three years left on that sentence. After her guilty pleas in British Columbia, the major bone of contention between the Crown and defence was whether the B.C. sentence should be concurrent or consecutive to the prison term in Ontario.

Justice Holmes also had to consider Cleroux’s lengthy record of dishonesty-based crimes. Cleroux had never been professionally qualified as a nurse but had amassed a criminal record, including numerous convictions for fraud and forgery in multiple provinces and the United States. She racked up more than 65 convictions for a wide range of fraud-related crimes, beginning with her first adult conviction in 1988.

Dr. Lisa Brown’s psychologist’s report couldn’t give a “precise reason” for Cleroux’s serial offending but stated she had a “profound lack of insight" and "numerous traits" of anti-social, narcissistic, and histrionic personality disorders.

Cleroux’s actions caused some victims to experience anxiety, fear, and panic attacks, and at least one had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. Her "deep-seated dishonesty" caused hundreds of patients’ emotional distress. Denunciation and deterrence became the most essential sentencing principles. There was little hope for rehabilitation.

Justice Holmes considered the sentences previously imposed on Cleroux in Alberta and Ontario (R. v. Marier, 2011 ABPC 182; R. v. Cleroux. 2022 ONCJ 188). The sentencing judge quoted from the Marier decision that said, “The use of forged documents attesting to [nursing] qualifications makes a mockery of attempts to ensure that the public is well served by qualified individuals.” Similar statements can be found in R. v. Baillargeon, 2022 QCCQ 8569, and R. v. Burns, 144 A.R. 282.

The sentencing judge also listed the many aggravating factors, the most serious of which struck at the core of public confidence in the province’s medical system. The offences caused significant emotional distress and serious psychological harm to some. They also caused financial loss to many of the victim patients. The theft of cheques from the Surrey dental clinic caused direct financial loss to the dentist. The Vancouver fraud caused significant economic loss to the Provincial Health Services Authority and, indirectly, to the public. The fraud damaged the reputations of the hospital and clinics where she worked and the good name of the nurse whose identity was stolen and misused.

The few mitigating aspects to be considered included the early guilty plea and her acknowledgment of responsibility. She has enrolled in some rehabilitative programming. She has suffered national exposure through the media reports of her wrongdoing.

The appropriate sentence is four years to run concurrently with the unexpired term of her Ontario sentence and a consecutive sentence of three years for the assault with a weapon charge. The net effect is a seven-year sentence to run concurrently with the Ontario sentence. That will extend the global sentence by approximately four years.

Such fraud may seem like good entertainment, but the B.C. court rightly concluded that the consequences for unsuspecting victims can be severe.

John L. Hill practised and taught prison law until his retirement. He holds a J.D. from Queen’s and an LL.M. in constitutional law from Osgoode Hall. He is also the author of Pine Box Parole: Terry Fitzsimmons and the Quest to End Solitary Confinement (Durvile & UpRoute Books) and The Rest of the (True Crime) Story (AOS Publishing). Contact him at johnlornehill@hotmail.com.

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