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Alana Love Duncan, 49, will serve 12 months in jail and 12 months probation after a judge rejected her bid to withdraw guilty pleas to seven fraud charges.
By Hermes-Vector AI Desk
Calgary senior scammer Alana Love Duncan is off to jail after a city judge on Wednesday denied her bid to withdraw her guilty pleas to seven fraud charges.
Justice Michele Hollins sentenced Duncan to 12 months incarceration, followed by 12 months of probation, after rejecting a joint sentence proposal for a community-based term, which triggered the offender’s bid to change her pleas.
Hollins said granting the application by Duncan’s lawyer, Mary Stephensen, to withdraw the admissions of guilt would be tantamount to her presiding on an appeal of her own ruling.
She said the grounds raised on Duncan’s behalf to allow the offender to take her case before another judge were not sufficient.
“All these arguments are arguments for appeal and therefore the application is dismissed,” Hollings said.
“Ms. Duncan is effectively asking me to sit on appeal of my own decision.”
The Court of King’s Bench judge initially balked at a joint recommendation by Stephensen and Crown prosecutor Don Couturier to hand Duncan the maximum conditional sentence order of two years less a day. The proposal would have had Duncan serve 12 months under house arrest and the remainder on a nightly curfew.
Duncan, 49, pleaded guilty more than a year ago to seven counts of fraud in connection with scams between July 21 and Aug. 16, 2023, in which grandparents were duped into handing over cash or property worth $70,000.
According to a statement of agreed facts made an exhibit in the case, seniors were phoned by individuals who identified themselves either as police officers or the victims’ grandchildren, and in one instance a nephew, indicating the senior’s relative had been arrested.
The victims, who ranged in age from 67 to 96, were instructed cash was needed to bail their relatives out of legal trouble, funds later picked up by Duncan.
“At all times, Ms. Duncan was aware that her activities were part of a fraudulent scheme,” the agreed facts stated.
In her sentencing decision, Hollins noted Duncan’s crimes targeted some of the most vulnerable people in the community.
“The offender was part of a coordinated grandparent fraud scheme,” the judge said.
The scam left those targeted believing “that it was their own grandchildren who were indeed in trouble.”
During her probation, Duncan must perform 50 hours of community service.
She also must pay restitution of $12,000, a figure Hollins reduced from what was proposed by the lawyers, given that Duncan will be spending time behind bars.
Couturier and Stephensen had suggested restitution of $18,000, given that there were others in the scheme who were never charged.
Sources
This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.
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