Former Victoria constituency office employee charged with theft, forgery

A former employee in MLA Rob Fleming'sVictoria-Swan Lake constituency office has been charged with theft, fraud and forgery.

Marni Ruth Offman has been charged with allegedly defrauding and stealing more than$5,000between March 24, 2009 and Nov. 28, 2015.

The former constituency assistant was also charged with forgingchequeswithin the same period.

Offmanwas charged after the case was reviewed by special prosecutor Dirk Ryneveldon behalf of Crown counsel.

Ryneveldwas appointed on June 8in order "to avoid any real or perceived improper influence" on the casebecause Offman was a former constituencyoffice employee.

MLA called in police

Fleming saidhe filed a complaint with Victoria police after making a "shocking discovery" that funds were missing from his office.

"This has been a very disturbing matter for me because it involves someone I worked closely with," said Fleming in astatement released on Tuesday.

He added constituency office employeeswork for him andthe community and allegations like these violate trust between all parties. Fleming is the NDP's education critic.

Despite making the accusations, Fleming said he would "reserve final judgement" until the criminal justice process was complete.

Offman will appear for the first timein Victoria Provincial Court today in relationto these charges.

With files from Richard Zussman