Direct indictment filed against woman accused of defrauding Millbrook of $4M

The Crown has decided to file a direct indictment against a Bible Hill woman who was charged this spring with embezzling more than $4 million from her former employer, the Millbrook First Nation. 

Dawn Marie Ellis-Abbott, 43, was arraigned in Truro provincial court in May on charges of fraud over $5,000, theft over $5,000 and possession of more than $5,000 in property that was obtained by crime. 

The case was back in provincial court Wednesday for election and plea, but the prosecution pre-empted that by announcing it was exercising its discretion to proceed by direct indictment. 

The legal manoeuvre by the Crown means Ellis-Abbott will go straight to trial in Nova Scotia Supreme Court without a preliminary inquiry in the lower court. 

The case will be in Supreme Court in Truro on Nov. 7 to begin the process of setting trial dates. Ellis-Abbott will automatically be tried by a judge and jury unless she re-elects to have her matters heard by a judge alone. 

RCMP announced the charges against Ellis-Abbott on April 14, saying the Millbrook detachment got a report from the Millbrook band council in December 2019 of a possible fraud committed by a former employee. 

At the time of the initial report, the fraud was believed to have involved more than $1 million, police said. 

The investigation was taken over by the Nova Scotia RCMP commercial crime section, assisted by the force’s digital forensic services and Public Services and Procurement Canada’s forensic accounting management group. 

Through the course of the investigation, it was determined that more than $4 million had been stolen or misappropriated over a four-year period between January 2016 and December 2019, RCMP alleged in the news release. 

Nova Scotia Legal Aid lawyer Laura Barrett appeared in court Wednesday on behalf of Ellis-Abbott, who was not present.