Despite making full restitution to the five insurance providers she defrauded, a former Calgary dentist was sentenced Thursday to three years in prison for insurance fraud, the Calgary Herald reported.
Justice Gord Wong rejected a defence request for a community-based conditional sentence, saying the guilty plea did not reflect genuine remorse.
“I don’t see the guilty plea as an expression of remorse … but rather an acceptance that the game was over,” Wong said.
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The Herald reported that defence counsel Alain Hepner had sought a non-custodial sentence for Alena Smadych, a Russian-born and trained dentist.
Smadych, 55, previously owned All About Family Dental — once identified as the highest-billing general-dental clinic in Canada for root canals. She pleaded guilty in June to defrauding two insurers (Sun Life Insurance and Alberta Blue Cross) of more than $125,000 in false claims.
Subsequently, three additional insurers came forward. In total, the false billings amounted to $684,348.10.