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An East Lawrencetown couple who defrauded their employer of more than $109,000 will be sentenced in March.

A sentencing hearing for Meghan Leah MacAskill, 36, and her husband Daniel Marc MacAskill, 41, got underway Tuesday in Dartmouth provincial court.

The couple pleaded guilty in October to a charge of fraud over $5,000.

According to an agreed statement of facts that was read into the record Tuesday, the MacAskills were longtime employees of Water Shed Water Conditioning Ltd., a Westphal company that offers customers a number of water-related services.

Meghan MacAskill’s duties changed during the course of her employment, but her final position was as general manager, which gave her signing authority for the company’s bank accounts. She was authorized to write, prepare, issue and sign cheques and make electronic transfers for the purposes of paying employees and reimbursing them for legitimate company-related expenses.

Her husband was a service technician with Water Shed, the court was told.

In May 2017, $6,900 in cash that had been paid by a customer was taken from the Water Shed office. An investigation showed Meghan MacAskill had taken the cash without permission and without using it for legitimate company purposes.

Water Shed president Stephen Burke filed a complaint with the Halifax Regional Police-RCMP financial crime unit. A detective determined that between November 2013 and November 2016, Marc MasAskill received and deposited 26 cheques totaling $43,547.50 for non-company-related purposes.

Further investigation revealed that between December 2013 and November 2016, Meghan MacAskill wrote and deposited 28 cheques in her own name, amounting to $41,900, for non-work-related purposes.

The investigator also learned that in May 2015, Marc MasAskill had requested a Credit Union Atlantic draft from Water Shed in the amount of $17,000, which was used to purchase a boat called Celebrity. “This was not an authorized company purchase,” the statement says.

Altogether, the Crown was able to prove the MacAskills fraudulently obtained $109,347.50 from Water Shed.

“(The funds) were not for legitimate employment-related purposes,” Crown attorney Brandon Trask said, reading from the statement of facts. “There was no proper entitlement to these funds.”

Trask told the court that he and defence lawyers Alex Embree, who represents Meghan MacAskill, and Michelle James were in agreement that the remainder of the sentencing hearing should be adjourned until mid-March. Trask said that will allow restitution for the full amount to be made to Water Shed, as contemplated in the plea bargain.

“I have no doubt that the restitution payment is in the process of being made,” the prosecutor said. “But because we’re unable to confirm actual receipt by the victim … at this moment, we’d prefer to (adjourn).”

Counsel informed Judge Ted Tax they will have a joint sentencing recommendation for his consideration at the March hearing.

Burke, who attended Tuesday’s proceeding, has submitted a victim impact statement for the sentencing. His company has also filed a lawsuit in Nova Scotia Supreme Court seeking money from the MacAskills.

A discovery hearing in the civil case is set for next week, Burke told The Chronicle Herald. He said the actual damage suffered by the company was as much as $900,000.

In September, a Supreme Court judge granted Water Shed an interim injunction restraining the MacAskills from divesting or mortgaging their interests in their East Lawrencetown home and Lake Charlotte cottage. They were also ordered to co-operate in preserving the value of the two properties in the event they have to be used to satisfy a judgment.

Trask stressed Tuesday that the criminal case is “entirely distinct” from the civil matter.

“The criminal resolution and any restitution that may flow from (it) … in no way binds the victim,” he said. “The Crown certainly cannot and will not bind any victim in relation to any civil proceedings.”

Other criminal charges against the couple are expected to be withdrawn after they are sentenced on the fraud count.

The MacAskills now operate their own business, Total Water Investigations Ltd.