A former City of Estevan employee who was arrested back in Febuary 2017 has now plead guilty.

Richard Winton was charged with fraud on the government (City of Estevan), fraud over $5,000 and theft over $5,000.

After his arrest he was released on probation, and had to make full restitution to the sum of $39,700.

"I think it sends a pretty strong message, and it's the right outcome at the end of the day. It's an unfortunate set of circumstances, without a doubt, but it's certainly encouraging that the City picked up on it and brought it forward quite quickly," said Police Chief Paul Ladouceur.

Winton was the City's stores foreman at the time.

"Essentially he was receiving what we would term 'kickbacks' through purchases that were being made on the City's behalf. Of course when somebody, especially a government official, receives benefit they are required to turn that over to their employer, and in this case that wasn't happening," Ladouceur explained.

He added that it's not unusual to see these cases, however, they are usually of the nature of telephone or internet scams.

"Fortunately, in this community we don't see a lot of business fraud. We take these matters quite seriously. Kudos to the city, as they did an outstanding job in going through the books and realizing that there was something that was wrong."

"At the end of the day the individual took full responsibility, which is good know, and is moving on," he noted.