A 28-year-old Belleville woman is facing numerous charges following a lengthy investigation into the theft of 52 donation cheques intended for various local charities.

City police stated in a media release Thursday an investigation was launched in the fall of 2018 into cheques initially sent to Quinte Humane Society, the Warm Amps, Ontario SPCA (Society for the Prevention of cruelty to Animals), Belleville General Hospital Foundation, Gleaners Food Bank, and The Salvation Army. In addition, police stated, a bank also sustained a loss “as a result of this fraudulent activity.”

“Between Oct. 1, 2018 and Dec. 31, 2018, it is alleged that the supervisor in charge of mailing operations at the Canada Post kiosk at Shoppers Drug Mart on Sidney Street, Belleville stole the cheques and deposited them into her personal bank account. The amount of the stolen cheques totaled $7,795,” Belleville police stated in a media release.

This also caused a significant disruption to the dozens of private citizen donors and their financial institutions as they struggled to compensate the donors for financial and tax refund losses.

Thursday morning investigators charged 28-year-old Britney McGuigan with theft of mail, six counts of theft under $5,000, and seven counts of fraud under $5,000.

“McGuigan’s employment was terminated at the commencement of this investigation,” police stated in the release.

McGuigan is scheduled to appear in court next month.

The investigator in this matter is Detective/Constable Bill Madden who can be reached at bmadden@police.belleville.on.ca