NOVA SCOTIA — A former church bookkeeper who defrauded two Roman Catholic parishes on Nova Scotia’s Eastern Shore of more than $225,000 over a decade will not serve jail time following her sentencing in provincial court.
On Tuesday in Dartmouth, N.S., Judge Amy Sakalauskas accepted a joint recommendation from the Crown and defence and sentenced Patricia Anne Dixon, 52, to two years of house arrest, followed by three years of probation.
“The impact of what happened here is obviously still strongly felt,” Sakalauskas said, noting feelings of betrayal and harm within a close-knit faith community affected by the fraud.
Dixon pleaded guilty in May 2025 to one count of fraud over $5,000, stemming from offenses committed between 2010 and 2020 while she worked as a bookkeeper at St. Anselm’s Parish, later merged into Saint John of the Cross Parish. Investigators determined Dixon carried out nearly 1,900 fraudulent transactions, most involving parish credit cards, to pay for personal expenses such as groceries, travel, and home heating fuel.
Court documents, including a 20-page agreed statement of facts and a forensic accounting report, revealed weak financial oversight at the parishes. Sakalauskas said Dixon “took advantage of a system that was ripe for exploitation” and engaged in ongoing efforts to conceal the fraud.
While the judge described Dixon’s moral culpability as high, she also cited mitigating factors, including a positive pre-sentence report and Dixon’s guilty plea, which avoided a lengthy and resource-intensive trial involving hundreds of transactions and multiple witnesses.
The sentence drew criticism from some parishioners. Madeline Oldham, who first raised concerns to police in 2019, said she and others were “dumbfounded” by the outcome, calling it “justice for the offender, not the victims.”
Prosecutor Brian Cox acknowledged the recommendation was lenient but said proving the full scope of losses at trial would have required weeks of court time. He maintained the sentence was fair and consistent with case law.
As part of her sentence, Dixon is prohibited from working or volunteering in any role involving financial authority. She was also ordered to pay $225,258.83 in restitution to Saint John of the Cross Parish, though payments are only required once her gross monthly income exceeds $5,000.
A pre-sentence report stated Dixon currently earns approximately $2,200 per month working as a virtual receptionist.
As with all criminal cases, sentencing reflects judicial discretion based on law, evidence, and precedent.
