Source: Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Inuvik RCMP have charged 51-year-old Brian Richards of Hay River with fraud and forgery after a lengthy investigation. The charges stem from a complaint that was received into a large sum of missing money from the Liquor Store in Inuvik. The Inuvik RCMP began an investigation after the complainant indicated that as much as one hundred thousand dollars had gone missing over a three-month period between April and July of 2021.
Investigators reviewed internal accounting documents and employee shift schedules and responsibilities to identify a suspect. Applications for bank records were applied for through production orders and the resulting financial records were reviewed. The records supported that Richards, who was the store manager, had been making cash deposits into his account over and above his salary in a sum of approximately seventy-six thousand dollars. RCMP believe that the money was taken from cash that was supposed be used to re-fill an ATM that was on site in the Liquor Store.
Richards was arrested and released for court in Inuvik on December 5th, 2023.