Barb Gallant apologizes for stealing veterans’ money as court hears she was victim of online dating scam [Video]

The former Summerside city councillor who pleaded guilty to stealing thousands of dollars from a veterans’ group stood in a P.E.I. provincial courtroom Tuesday and apologized before a judge and about a dozen victims and their supporters.

“Your Honour, I am truly sorry,” Barb Gallant said, her voice shaking. “Veterans, community and … I’m just truly sorry.”

During Gallant’s sentencing hearing in Summerside, the public heard for the first time the reasons she felt compelled to make 58 fraudulent transactions amounting to $12,995 in her role as executive director of the Lest We Forget Veterans Committee.

Gallant is a “kind and thoughtful” person who got caught up in an online dating scam, said her lawyer, Peter Ghiz. He said the 60-year-old woman met someone she believed was a retired U.S. Navy captain, who said he was stationed in Syria.

Caught up in romance scam

She soon started sending him money — over a 16-month period …