Potential Calgary council candidate charged in local non-profit fraud investigation
Posted Jun 30, 2025 1:58 pm.
Last Updated Jun 30, 2025 5:23 pm.
An unofficial Calgary city council candidate is the third person charged in a fraud investigation involving a local non-profit organization.
Calgary police say they began investigating in April 2024 after board members of the Bowness Ratepayers Scout and Guide Hall Association reported missing funds.
It is alleged two men approached the directors of the association in 2022 with a promise to rebrand the venue in Bowness and turn it into a community hall to gather and hold events.
The directors agreed and the two men were tasked with managing daily operations, with one appointing himself as general manager without consent from the board, according to police.
The two men rebranded the hall as BowCommons and began hosting events under the name Discover Bowness.
In April 2024, board members started to become concerned with a lack of maintenance at the venue and the finances, eventually discovering missing funds before contacting police.
Following an investigation, Calgary police say the two men took more than $66,000 between 2022 and 2024.
The pair allegedly embezzled the money by hosting events using the organization’s funds without paying fees, falsified documents to obtain financial control, and created fake receipts for services that were never rendered and deposited into their personal bank accounts.
Police arrested Nathan Michael Mizera, 41, and Joshua Tyler Bredo, 40, last week and charged each with one count of fraud over $5,000.
In an update on Monday, police said further investigation revealed the chairperson of Discover Bowness directly benefitted from the fraudulent activity without reporting it. Discover Bowness was the business name connected to events hosted at the community hall, according to police.
Police have charged 61-year-old Shawna Easthope with one count of fraud over $5,000.
According to a website and social media posts, Easthope was campaigning to run for city council in Calgary’s Ward 1 in the upcoming municipal election in the fall.
She is not listed as an official candidate on the city’s website.
Anyone with additional information about the incident is being urged to call police at 403-266-1234, or submit tips anonymously to CrimeStoppers.
