A former insurance broker who issued fraudulent policies could be facing penitentiary time when she's sentenced in June.

After having pleaded guilty to one count of theft earlier this year, Joanne Walker entered another plea of guilty to five counts two of theft and three of fraud in territorial court this morning.

After another eight charges of forgery were consolidated into one, she pleaded guilty to that as well.

'This wasn't a get rich-quick-scheme,' defence lawyer Bob Dick told Judge John Faulkner after Crown counsel David McWhinnie spoke on the pre-sentence report.

McWhinnie noted Walker had run her own insurance company from the fall of 2004, until her licence was suspended and eventually revoked in 2005.

In that time, she sold policies to clients, but didn't have the contracts with the insurance companies to sell the policies.

By all appearances, said McWhinnie, Walker was the owner of a normal insurance broker which provided quotes, what appeared to be binding letters and other documents which clients believed to be valid policies for home, auto and commercial insurance.

'It would pass at least a cursory inspection,' said McWhinnie.

The scheme was only learned of when a client was looking for competitive quotes. The broker the client went to noticed some minor details in the documents from Walker's company, Territories Insurance Solutions.

Suspicions were then aroused, with the matter first going to the company Walker was supposed to have been dealing with.

The matter was then referred to the Yukon government and eventually the RCMP, with her licence being revoked.

It turned out, said McWhinnie, that between 145 to 150 fraudulent policies were purchased by clients and there were another approximately 18 valid policies sold by Walker. The valid policies didn't require a contract with the insurance company.

To her credit, it was pointed out, Walker has been co-operative with the RCMP and has refunded roughly between $30,000 and $35,000 of the $120,000 owed to customers.

McWhinnie also later pointed out that she did enter a guilty plea early in the case, which saved having to go through a trial involving numerous witnesses. Walker has no criminal record and has attempted to make restitution.

McWhinnie suggested the court is faced with two difficult choices between whether to sentence Walker to more than two years, which would send her to penitentiary, or, if the judge opts for a lesser sentence, whether it would be served in jail or through a conditional term.

While a conditional sentence isn't out of the question, McWhinnie said, it must be considered very carefully.

He pointed to similar cases and noted a two- to three-year sentence wouldn't be unusual, given the high risk to the public it presented, the breach of trust and the amount of money involved.

'The trust element is very high,' he said, adding there are significant consequences for people who believe they purchased the proper insurance and were permanently injured in a crash.

During the RCMP investigation, Walker told police she had had a sinking feeling every time she heard a siren.

Fortunately, her customers were never involved in any crashes where claims were made, but it was an inconvenience when they learned they had purchased invalid policies.

'People who had cars couldn't drive,' said McWhinnie.

One home-based business had to move when it was learned the policy was invalid.

Aggravating the case is the fact Walker continued the practice for months even after realizing she wasn't going to get the contracts she needed with insurance companies.

It even appears she was dealing with her last client when the territory's insurance inspector showed up at her office on the matter.

'This didn't end when she had an epiphany or turned herself in,' said McWhinnie.

If a conditional sentence is considered, he said, there should be a plan for restitution to be made as well as a probation term to be followed.

The sentence sits on the legal cusp between penitentiary and territorial jail time and could also include a sentence to be served in the community, said McWhinnie.

Dick suggested a conditional sentence could be served for the crime in light of Walker's attempt to pay restitution and her early guilty plea.

Though she only makes $1,200 a month, Walker has been providing $500 each month to the territory's insurance superintendent after initially refunding $30,000 of the money.

A conditional sentence, Dick said, could include a curfew and a wage garnishee, among other orders. He suggested the wage garnishee could be set at 25 per cent.

More restitution funds will come from the sale of her home estimated at $40,000 to $50,000 and a condition could stipulate that's what the money is used for, Dick suggested.

That raised a question for the judge though.

'I'm frankly puzzled as to why you're dealing with this today,' Faulkner said after Dick told him the home sale will likely be finalized within the week.

The judge said using the money from the sale of the home could weigh significantly in the sentencing decision.

Dick continually stressed Walker had knowingly sold the fraudulent insurance in an effort to provide for her family.

Walker came to Whitehorse in 2003 with her then-husband and two sons to work for Arctic Insurance Brokers. The family had difficulty finding a place to live as well as financial problems, as her husband had trouble finding a permanent job.

Walker's job involved working long hours. By September 2004, she could no longer take the stress and quit her job, Dick said.

Plans fell through that would have seen her and her husband start a tourism business so she eventually decided to use her years of insurance experience to open up her own brokerage business.

She had fully expected she would be able to get the contracts she needed with insurance companies as she began selling policies, her lawyer said.

At some point, it became obvious that wasn't going to happen, but she continued to sell the policies in an effort to pay family expenses like bills and the mortgage.

'It was an impossible situation to turn and every turn she made was wrong,' said Dick.

After her lawyer pointed to the possibility of Walker's home being sold this week, Faulkner adjourned the sentencing until June 5.