Three people and their businesses were charged with stealing more than $300,000 in electricity from Lac-Saint-Jean on Thursday.
Mathieu Goulet, Guillaume Goulet, Marie-Pascale Gobeil and their companies also faced misdemeanor charges totaling $20,000 at the Roberval courthouse, Hydro-Québec said in a statement.
“The offenses were committed in about fifteen residences in Roberval, Chambord, Saint-Bruno, Saint-Félicien, Hébertville, Saint-Prime and Mashteuiatsh”, specifies the state company.
The defendants, identified in a summons obtained from the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP), would have prevailed for more than 10 years, from January 2009 to July 2021.
Hydro-Québec’s Corporate Security teams were alerted in April 2021 by their “abnormal electricity use detection tools”, then they unmasked the network a few months later.
The companies accused are the Vivadent dental clinic in St-Bruno, which belongs to dentist Guillaume Goulet, the investment company 9313-6455 Québec inc., which belongs to Mathieu Goulet, and the concrete manufacturing company 9222-7669 Québec inc. ., which belongs to both men. The legal entity of the DD Marie-Pascale Gobeil, who practices family medicine in Roberval, is also targeted.
Hydro-Quebec teams process about 400 files related to electricity theft each year, says the state corporation. These efforts have recovered more than $16.5 million in electricity from 2019 to 2021, again according to Hydro-Québec.