Ottawa woman, 93, suing RBC after account drained
Robbed of life savings by live-in caregiver
By Doug Schmidt
Postmedia News
August 12, 2011
A 93-year-old Ottawa resident who was robbed of her life's savings by her live-in caregiver is suing Canada's biggest bank to get her money back.
RBC Royal Bank is also the subject of an Ontario Provincial Police obstruction-of-justice criminal investigation connected to the case.
"There were lots of red flags raised. Mistakes happen, but the bank needs to acknowledge that there was a lapse in judgment by its employees," said Debbie Landriault, a manager at an Ottawa hospital who now takes care of Dorothy Linklater, her aunt.
It wasn't until the account of Linklater, formerly of Essex, Ont., was drained that RBC Royal Bank's Essex branch alerted the elderly woman's closest relatives in August 2009. Her caregiver, Carrie Bertrand, 44, was sentenced earlier this year by an Ontario court judge in Windsor, Ont., to 14 months' house arrest after pleading guilty to defrauding the senior of more than $82,000 over a two-year period.
Justice Lloyd Dean, describing the victimization of the vulnerable elder as "just below the worst of crimes," told Bertrand her guilty plea and $20,000 in restitution payments saved her from a jail sentence.
The prosecutor in the case said after her sentencing that the bank must be held "partially responsible" for the senior losing all her savings.
Bertrand, who at the time of her sentencing was living off government disability payments at her parents' home, had helped herself to Linklater's bank account to pay for a car, televisions, a computer, furniture, tattoos, body piercings, sports memorabilia, travel, eating out and trips to the casino.
Linklater, discovered despondent and in poor health, was rescued by relatives who live outside the area who found her living as a virtual prisoner in her own home, confined to her room and hoarding the food she was given at irregular intervals.
Police are now looking into an allegation that documentation was destroyed by bank employees during the course of the earlier fraud investigation.
Landriault said the lawsuit against RBC Royal Bank was filed in part to get the financial institution to acknowledge the shortcomings in its procedures, including the monitoring of who is given access to clients' accounts. It's seeking more than $62,000 in missing money in addition to costs.
In consultation with police and the Crown, the family agreed it would serve Linklater better to allow Bertrand to avoid jail by agreeing to repay at least some of the stolen money rather than proceeding to trial.
While a jail term would have been preferred, Landriault said the time and effort it would have taken for a trial would have taken too heavy a toll on her aunt.
"If she'd passed away, the case would have been dismissed," she added.
Landriault said her aunt, a child of the Great Depression, worked as a caregiver for others "well past her 70s" and saved all her life so that she would not become a burden to others.
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
SOURCE: The Ottawa Citizen
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