Ann Rousseau pled guilty to one count of mail theft under Canada’s Criminal Code last Thursday, May 8, 2025 at the Fort Frances Courthouse.
Rousseau, a 59-year-old woman from LaVallee, is facing charges related to the theft of mail from the Fort Frances Post Office, resulting from a joint investigation by Canada Post and the OPP, launched on December 4, 2023. Rousseau was working as a contract cleaner in the Canada Post building at the time.
Police had issued a search warrant for a residence and vehicle located in LaVallee as a result of that investigation.
OPP press releases issued at the time of the arrest stated there were at least 60 known victims.
In last Thursday’s court appearance, the facts of the case and charges were not read out, but the presiding judge noted that Rousseau had been charged in December 2023 in the Town of Fort Frances with the theft of mail sent by post after it had been deposited at the post office, contrary to the Canada Criminal Code Section 356, subsection 1.a.i.
The subsection reads:
356 (1) “Everyone commits an offence who (a) steals (i) anything sent by post, after it is deposited at a post office and before it is delivered, or after it is delivered but before it is in the possession of the addressee or of a person who may reasonably be considered to be authorized by the addressee to receive mail.”
When the justice asked Rousseau for her plea for the charge, Rousseau pled guilty. Rousseau will return to the Fort Frances Courthouse on June 24, 2025, as a pre-sentencing report is being prepared. No sentence was decided in last Thursday’s appearance.
Under the Canada Criminal Code, those found to have committed an offence under this section of the Code is “(a) guilty of an indictable offence and liable to be imprisoned for a term on not more than 10 years; or (b) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.”
