A woman who claimed welfare while living with a Highland Valley Copper mine worker who earned $70,000 a year must repay the government more than $36,500, a judge ordered Monday.

As well, Josephine Brunt, 50, must serve 12 months of probation, ruled B.C. Supreme Court Justice Richard Blair.

The Merritt woman pleaded guilty to fraud. Prosecutor Iain Currie told the court the woman began collecting social assistance payments in April 2002, until she was charged in February 2009.

During that period the government paid her roughly $59,000, the court was told. Unbeknownst to ministry workers, however, was the fact the woman was living with Ross Pollard, a Highland Valley worker. She did not disclose his income to the ministry, as social assistance regulations require.

The woman claimed Pollard was her landlord. The government directly paid him $285 a month to cover her rent, the court was told. He pleaded guilty last month of being party to a fraud and was handed a conditional discharge, with nine months of probation.

Currie told the judge the precise nature of the relationship between Brunt and Pollard isn’t really known, but she was a beneficiary of his employment benefits, as was her daughter.

That said, it appears the relationship may have been mostly of “convenience,” although the court was never told precisely what made it convenient for either of them.

Brunt had an addiction to crack, said Currie. Pollard allowed the woman to use his account to deposit her welfare cheques, returning much of the money to her.

“Mr. Pollard did support her to some extent financially, and some of the money paid to him for housing went back into her pocket. It likely didn’t last long in her pocket and likely lined the pockets of Merritt drug dealers,” Currie said. “Regardless, she did not disclose him as a source of income (to the government).”

Defence lawyer Don Campbell told the judge Brunt has been clean from drugs for more than two years and regrets that period of her life.

“It was not a healthy part of her life, she wants to put it behind her,” he said.

The two lawyers presented the sentence to the court as a joint submission.

rkoopmans@kamloopsnews.ca