Sophie Alice Toone, 30, pleads guilty to obtaining financial advantage by deception

A former Goolwa medical receptionist has faced court after she was found diverting patients’ Medicare rebates into her own personal account and purposely targeting the elderly.

A second receptionist at the Goolwa Medical Centre has pleaded guilty to redirecting Medicare rebates into her personal account, a court has heard.

Sophie Alice Toone, 30, pleaded guilty to obtaining financial advantage by deception on Tuesday after she had redirected $2952 of elderly patients’ Medicare rebates while working as a receptionist at the medical centre.

The court heard Toone completed 28 false claims between December 10, 2019 and July 6, 2020 from 14 different patients.

Sophie Alice Toone pleaded guilty to redirecting Medicare rebates into her bank account 28 times in 2020. Pic: Facebook

“She (Toone) targeted elderly and vulnerable patients who seemed less likely to check if they had received their rebate,” Prosecution for the Commonwealth told the court.

“She used her knowledge of the Medicare benefit to claim expensive items like long consultations to maximise the benefits she received.

“She did not voluntarily stop and was only uncovered when the centre’s manager conducted an audit in August.”

The court heard the young mother had worked at the medical centre for more than ten years and resigned almost immediately when she was questioned about her behaviour.

Sophie Alice Toone. Pic: Facebook

The court also heard Toone was working alongside another disgraced receptionist Kelly Pitt, who pleaded guilty to the same charges after she diverted nearly $7000 in Medicare rebates to cover living expenses.

Toone’s defence counsel said his client was ‘terribly ashamed’ of her offending.

“She has no prior convictions and she has held a position as a medical receptionist for many years and has actually obtained new employment at another medical centre who are aware of this incident,” said the lawyer.

“She made a very serious error in judgment by engaging in this behaviour.”

Magistrate Maria Panagiotidis condemned Toone’s offending saying she had breached her position of trust throughout her offending.

“You abused that trust,” Magistrate Panagiotidis said.

“This is a very serious matter … you manipulated the patient details for your own benefit.”

Toone was sentenced to six months imprisonment, immediately suspended for two years and was placed on a good behaviour bond and was ordered to repay the $2952.

A conviction was recorded.