Two siblings appeared in Bonnyville court via CCTV charged with a string of forgeries and frauds.
Bonnyville residents, 21-year-old Daphne Stoyles and 22-year-old Francis Stoyles, were in front of Judge Kathleen Williams in Bonnyville court on Jan. 26. Both appeared via CCTV from the Edmonton Remand Centre, where they will remain until their next court appearance.
On Jan. 11 the Bonnyville RCMP received a complaint from a Calgary-based printing company noting that they had received a suspicious order for customized cheques from a client in Bonnyville. Through investigation, police were able to trace the orders to the Stoyles' residence.
Police attended the residence on Jan. 20 and arrested the brother and sister on charges of possession of forged documents. A search warrant was then executed on the residence, which allegedly resulted in hundreds of documents related to fraud and counterfeit cheques being found. Those documents, along with computers and other electronic equipment, were seized in relation to the investigation.
“There's just a multitude of evidence that we need to go through and subsequent charges may result once the evidence is reviewed,” said Cst. Laura Carroll of the Bonnyville RCMP.
Daphne Stoyles faces a combined total of 26 charges, including multiple counts of fraud and forgery stemming from previous incidents, while Francis Stoyles faces six charges pertaining to forgery and failure to comply with conditions.
Williams issued a warrant for the arrest of Daphne Stoyles on Jan. 5 after she failed to appear in court. At the time, she faced 21 charges in all.
On Aug. 13, 2015, Daphne Stoyles attempted to defraud Tellier's Guardian Pharmacy out of $3,733. Last November, the RCMP charged Daphne Stoyles with attempting to defraud the Lakeland Credit Union a sum of $4,650 and the Bonnyville Treasury Branch a sum of $8,600 by trying to have both certify a forged cheque.
Daphne Stolyes was also to be found in possession of cheques belonging to Omar Plumbing Ltd., a company based in Cold Lake, and personal cheques belonging to Russell and Darlene Rivard. She was charged with being in possession of property obtained by crime for both and court documents indicate she had intended to defraud both parties by forging the cheques to pass them off as genuine.
On Sept. 1, 2015, Daphne Stoyles was charged with possession of marijuana and magic mushrooms in Bonnyville. Approximately three months later, Cst. Walter Sidorenko of the Bonnyville RCMP charged Daphne Stoyles with possession of methamphetamine in Bonnyville.
In November 2015, Daphne Stoyles was once again found to be in possession of a forged cheque, which she intended to use as genuine. On Nov. 28, 2015, RCMP noted she was in possession of keys to a 2015 Ford F-250, which was obtained by crime. She also faces four counts of breaching her conditions by not reporting to a peace officer as part of her undertaking in November.
“Before mid-2015 she wasn't really on our radar at all,” Cst. Sean Milne with the Bonnyville RCMP said in early January. “Most of what we've been dealing with there has been in the past five months.”
Information from court documents indicated that Daphne Stoyles has also missed court appearances on two prior occasions in 2015, first on Oct. 6 and then on Nov. 17.
The Bonnyville RCMP detachment hopes the arrests will help them close a few longstanding fraud files.
“We hope to conclude a lot of outstanding fraudulent investigations with the evidence found resulting from the search warrant and we hope that with the arrest of these two people it'll reduce the future amount of fraudulent files in our areas,” Carroll said.
Both Daphne and Francis Stoyles will appear in Bonnyville court next on Feb. 2.
