Former Abbotsford Police Department finance director charged with breach of trust

A former finance director for the Abbotsford Police Department (APD) has been charged with breach of trust, fraud over $5,000 and theft over $5,000.

RCMP say Shelley Dallas Mickens, 61, surrendered herself on Wednesday and was arrested by Federal Serious and Organized Crime (FSOC) financial integrity investigators.

The Surrey resident, who also goes by Boyce or Bursill, held the role of director of finance and budget for the Abbotsford police from 1999 until she retired in 2016.

Soon after she left the job, an internal audit into missing money took place, and in 2017, the APD requested the RCMP's FSOC department investigate the matter.

In February2017, the APD and the City of Abbotsford filed a lawsuit, claiming that Mickens stole $192,000 in cash between 2013 and 2016.

According to court documents,Mickens "concealed the theft by preparing misleading documents and accounting entries and by providing misleading information to the chief constable and deputy chief constables of the APD."

The claim maintains that she manipulated a financial account that was legitimately set up for a "cellmate" sting operation which ended in 2011. That account was supposed to be closed in 2013, but Mickens kept it active and designated it as "DNR" or Do Not Report.

That designation kept the files confidential and allowed Mickens to discreetly transfer funds to the account and withdraw the money as cash.

On Sept. 15, 2017, the B.C. Supreme Court orderedMickens to repay more than $300,000 to the City of Abbotsford.

She is scheduled to appear in Abbotsford Provincial Court on Sept. 14, 2020.