Ashlee Pearce pleaded guilty to multiple counts of deception after fraud operation exposed

A judge told a fraudster “so be it” if she had to spend the rest of her life paying back the multiple victims she stole the identities of to score thousands of dollars worth of goods.

A judge told an identity thief “so be it” if she had to spend the rest of her life paying back the victims of her extensive fraud operation.

Ashlee Maree Pearce, 32, “severely damaged” a man’s credit rating and left a woman with significant stress and anxiety after she opened up multiple fraudulent accounts in their name.

The Adelaide Magistrates Court on Thursday heard Pearce’s fraud operation involved NBN and phone contracts, electronics including an iPhone, iPad, and HP Spectre x360 and Wizpay (a buy now, pay later site) accounts for $625 and $453.

Two victim impact statements were read by a prosecutor on Thursday, with a further two handed to Chief Magistrate Judge Mary-Louise Hribal.

“The offender opened countless accounts in my name for six months before I was aware of the situation,” the first victim said.

The victim said she had to take multiple days off work to cancel all the fraudulent accounts in her name.

“Several times throughout this period the bank would alert me that someone was trying to sign into my internet banking account using an unknown password,” she said.

“This caused me a tremendous amount of stress and anxiety.”

The victim said she began seeing a psychologist to deal with the anxiety of identity theft and now found it difficult to apply for loans.

The court heard the victim also spent thousands of dollars on security systems and new gates for their home.

“We’ve felt very insecure at home not knowing how the offender obtained my wallet after the robbery and whether they will return,” she said.

The second victim said he became aware of Pearce’s offending when Humm (a buy now, pay later site) started demanding payments from him.

The victim said he obtained a credit report and found 13 separate credit loan applications had been initiated under his name.

“I quickly discovered the implications of these applications, that is my credit rating had been severely damaged,” he said.

The victim said Pearce needed to understand the consequences of her actions and the distress and ongoing angst it caused him.

Ashlee Pearce ran an extensive fraud operation. Photo: Facebook

Ashlee Pearce pleaded guilty to deception. Photo: Facebook

Pearce, of Kurralta Park, pleaded guilty to seven counts of deception and one count of identity fraud between July 22 and October 23 last year.

Judge Hribal asked the prosecutor to obtain an exact figure of Pearce’s fraud, to work out potential compensation for all the victims.

“If she takes the rest of her life to pay this (back to the victims), that might be, so be it,” Judge Hribal said.

Defence lawyer Kate Budzynski, told the court Pearce, who is on Centrelink, was “deeply contrite” for her offending.

The charges were adjourned until next month.