Former Abbotsford Police Department finance director charged with breach of trust, fraud, theft

A former finance director of the Abbotsford Police Department, Shelley Dallas Mickens, 61, is facing charges of breach of trust, fraud over $5,000 and theft over $5,000. Charges were laid by the BC Prosecution Service. Mickens, a Surrey resident, surrendered herself on Wednesday and was arrested by Federal Serious and Organized Crime (FSOC) Financial Integrity investigators. Mickens is set to appear on September 14 at the Abbotsford Provincial Court. 

Mickens held the role of finance director of the Abbotsford Police Department from 1999 to 2016. The offences are alleged to have occurred during a period from 2013 until her retirement in the summer of 2016. Shortly after her departure, an internal audit into the missing funds was done and the Abbotsford Police Department formally reached out to the RCMP FSOC and requested an investigation, which started in 2017.

Mickens, who was also known by the surnames Boyce or Bursill, also faced parallel civil proceedings in relation to these events. On September 15, 2017, she was ordered to pay back more than $300,000 to the City of Abbotsford in a ruling by the B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver.