A Windsor woman, who was referred to as a monster by one of her victims, has been sentenced to three years in prison for defrauding friends and acquaintances of about $150,000.
Audrey Annette Bishop, 53, received the sentence after pleading guilty to dozens of fraud-related charges which included fraud over $5000, fraud under $5000 and using a forged document.
Bishop suffers from bipolar disorder and from 2013 to 2016, she made up elaborate schemes including faking she had cancer to raise money for treatment.
She would also dupe people into providing money for investments promising a return, which never happened.
She also sold furniture at her consignment shop "Audrey's Attic" in Amherstburg and never paid the furniture owner the money from the sale.
The crown said Bishop's crimes were driven by malice and deceit as she preyed on people who were vulnerable.
Outside the courthouse, Bishop's lawyer Daniel Topp says it's the proper sentence.
"Three years may seem like a small amount of time for some people looking at this type of crime," says Topp. "But it is a financial crime, she is going to the federal penitentiary for three years with violent offenders."
From left: Mary Joann MacNeill and her daughter Kelly Adam speak to reporters outside of Ontario court after Audrey Bishop was sentenced to three years in prison. February 12, 2018 (Photo by AM800's Teresinha Medeiros)
Victim Mary Joann MacNeill says the crimes ruined her financially, physically and emotionally.
"Not enough [the sentence], but it is our justice system," she says. "We couldn't ask for any more because we would never get it, so we have to be happy with three years."
She says Bishop owes her $90,000.
Topp hopes the sentence provides the victims some comfort.
"She has pled guilty, she has accepted responsibility for what she did and she did not force anybody to go through a trial."
For her part, MacNeill doesn't believe the schemes will stop in prison.
"She is a predator and it won't stop, it is not ever going to stop. No matter what they do because I'm sure the day she starts her prison sentence she will start a new plan."
MacNeill's daughter Kelly Adam also entered a victim impact statement and called Bishop a monster and a 'selfish person with an addiction to fraud."
The court ordered Bishop to pay back her victims.
Before being sentenced, Bishop told the court that she is very very sorry for her actions.