A former Insurance Corporation of B.C. employee who allegedly accessed customer information that helped track down victims in an arson and shooting spree six years ago has been charged.
New Westminster resident Candy Elaine Rheaume, 44, is accused of improperly obtaining personal information off ICBC's computer system prior to the shocking attacks, the province's gang task force announced Thursday.
The perpetrator, Vincent Cheung, targeted 15 people over their ties to the Justice Institute of B.C. between April 2011 and January 2012.
The Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit said all 15 victims' licence plates were run by an ICBC employee before the arsons and shootings were committed.
"That information was ultimately used by the orchestrator to facilitate the brazen attacks," the task force said in a release.
The charge against Rheaume was announced the day after one of Cheung's victims, Rhonda Brayshaw, spoke out to CTV News reporter Mi-Jung Lee about her terrifying ordeal.
Brayshaw, whose property was torched in 2011, is angry her personal information was able to be accessed even though ICBC had been warned about a lack of safeguards by the province's privacy watchdog two years earlier.
On Thursday, Brayshaw told CTV News she’s thrilled the employee has been charged. She said she now wants ICBC to be held accountable for not protecting the information of Cheung’s victims.
Rheaume, who has no prior criminal record, was fired by the insurance company in 2011. She is scheduled to appear in New Westminster provincial court on Feb. 15.
With files from CTV Vancouver's Mi-Jung Lee
