Calgary conman sentenced to 28 months for student aid fraud scheme
Dave Guylenz Mitchell Beauvais used forged documents to steal over $500K in Alberta Student Aid loans.
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A Calgary conman has been sentenced to 28 months in federal prison for orchestrating a student aid fraud scheme that netted over half a million dollars in stolen loans.
Dave Guylenz Mitchell Beauvais, 39, pleaded guilty last fall to fraud over $5,000, uttering forged documents, and laundering proceeds of crime. Between 2019 and 2020, he used forged passports, driver's licences, and social insurance cards to make false student loan applications. Fraudsters working with him collected personal information from individuals and used it to open bank accounts and receive loan disbursements.
Loans to 15 different named individuals were approved, totaling more than half a million dollars, though just under $200,000 was actually disbursed. Calgary Court of King's Bench Justice Darren Reed rejected a conditional sentence proposed by the defence, noting that identity theft offences are more aggravating than other fraud.
"Courts seem more inclined to grant CSOs in the latter than the former. I find this is due to the more egregious nature of identity theft," Reed said Wednesday, June 24.
The Crown had sought a 30-month sentence, arguing that internet-based fraud schemes require strong deterrence, especially when they occur during the pandemic when more business moved online. Beauvais, who has relocated to Ottawa, appeared for sentencing by video link.