Former ICBC employee charged in relation to Justice Institute attacks
Candy Elaine Rheaume is alleged to have shared personal information through licence plate queries
A former ICBC employee has been charged for her alleged role in a series of attacks on the homes and vehicles of 15 people involved with the Justice Institute of B.C.
Candy Elaine Rheaume faces one charge for using ICBC data for unauthorized purposes.
It comes more than five years after she was fired for her alleged role in the attacks on staff and students of the Justice Institute of B.C.
From April 2011 to Jan. 2012, there were 23 attacks — 19 arsons and four shootings — on the homes and vehicles of J.I. employees, spanning nine different municipalities.
Rheaume was fired in 2011 when RCMP began investigating the attacks — which were still ongoing at the time — and learned from ICBC of a possible link to the crimes involving a privacy breach.
"The investigation ... established that a then-ICBC employee had queried the 15 victims' licence plates and accessed their personal information. That information was ultimately used by the orchestrator to facilitate the brazen attacks," said the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of BC, in a release announcing the new charge.
- Man pleads guilty to attacks on people linked to B.C. Justice Institute
- Vincent Eric Gia-Hwa Cheung, alleged mastermind of Justice Institute attacks, faces 23 charges
Following Rheaume's termination, ICBC said it had conducted an independent external review of its systems and taken steps to safeguard against future breaches.
Vincent Eric Gia-Hwa Cheung pleaded guilty to orchestrating the attacks in 2016 and was sentenced to 13.5 years in prison.
Rheaume is scheduled to be in court, Feb. 15.