Nicole Kelly to serve two years, pay full restitution

Nicole Kelly was noticeably teary-eyed as her sentence was read, and told her family she loved them as she was taken away by a sheriff. Tuesday, she plead guilty to two counts of Theft over $5,000 as well as two differing counts of Fraud.

After a night of consideration, Judge Rita Bowry found that the defence attorney's suggestion of a two year sentence was more appropriate than the Crown's of three years. However, although the defence argued that in addition to her $37,000 in credit card debt, paying restitution would impair her financial future, Bowry found that Kelly is young, healthy and seemingly bright and sees nothing that suggests she will be unable to pay in the future. Kelly is married and owns a home with her husband.

In the matter of the theft from the Slow Pitch Society, Bowry added that each of the 500 members "has been touched by the actions of Ms. Kelly", and ordered repayment of the $103,739.34 she took over three and a half years as Treasurer for the Society. Slow Pitch President Janet Prestley says the decision comes as a relief, and brought the executives in the courtroom close to tears of happiness.

"I think the judgement was fair. It recognized what she did both to the community, to the league, to our members. I'm really happy; we can move forward now and that's great."

Kelly must also pay back $52,902.98 to Hub International Barton Insurance, whom she stole from during a six month period in 2009.