Employees charged for fraud, theft at gas bar

A request by the O’Chiese First Nation of its gas bar’s financial records has resulted in two employees being charged with stealing more than $72,000. Kevin Thomas, 51, and Deborah Thomas, 50, both of Sylvan Lake, are each charged with theft over $5,000, forgery and uttering a forged document. The audit, conducted by an independent accounting firm, led to the suspicion that between March 2010 and June 2011 numerous unauthorized charges were made on a credit card associated to the business. The O’Chiese First Nation requested that the results of the audit be forwarded to the RCMP. Police allege two people used the gas bar’s credit card to make thousands of dollars in personal purchases, and then forged a document during the audit to try to justify the use of the card.