Utoo Radio with Other News Sources - July 14, 2024 - Robert Riley Saunders, a man who forged social worker credentials and defrauded Indigenous Youth under his care in the Okanagan, has been granted full parole by the Parole Board of Canada.

The decision follows a panel hearing held in April, where the board noted Saunders's progress and several issues. The board determined that Saunders' mitigating factors outweigh the aggravating factors relative to a full parole release.

Saunders was sentenced to five years in prison for fraud over $5,000, breach of trust, and forgery. He had been first hired by the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) in 1996 using a forged bachelor of social work degree from the University of Manitoba and that his then-girlfriend assisted in forging the document.

Five years later, Saunders transferred to Kelowna in syilx homelands and opened 24 joint bank accounts with youth, whose wellbeing he was supposed to look out for.

The judge who heard Saunders’ case convicted him of misappropriating more than $460,000, a breach of trust, and using a forged degree to get a job as a social worker with the Ministry of Child and Family Development in BC at the time.

The decision to grant Saunders day parole last October outraged Indigenous leaders and victims who were defrauded by Saunders, with the First Nations Leadership Council (FNLC) calling for an immediate reversal of the decision.