Second alleged ‘border hopper’ hid out near Gympie

The man has been remanded in custody by a Gympie court after allegedly breaching COVID border lockdown rules

The man allegedly crossed the border using a fraudulent exemption pass and travelled to Gympie in May. Picture: Police check cars at a QLD border crossing

A MAN charged with giving the wrong name and using a fraudulent pass to travel into Queensland in May was remanded in custody yesterday after being found hiding out in Curra.

Joseph Paul Mooney, 32, faced the Gympie Magistrates Court, which heard he allegedly applied for an exemption pass to cross the border during lockdown using a different name and a Caboolture address, believed to be his father's.

Mooney allegedly used the name of a real person to get the pass, but police tracked the email address Mooney provided back to him.

Police allege he used the fraudulent pass to cross the border from New South Wales into the state, and was later found by police hiding in the lounge room of a house in Curra, where he gave the wrong name again.

The man allegedly crossed the border using a fraudulent exemption pass and travelled to Gympie in May. Picture: Police check cars at a QLD border crossing / Steve Holland

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The court heard Mooney was asked on several occasions to spell the name, once at the border and twice by police later, and he allegedly spelt it differently each time.

Mooney was charged with dishonestly gaining entry into Queensland from New South Wales at a border crossing between May 28 and May 31 and appeared in Gympie Magistrates Court on Monday to apply for bail.

Mooney faces other charges, including breaching probation, unlawful possession of a motor vehicle, arson of a motor vehicle, possession of utensils, failure to appear and contravening a direction, some of which date back to 2009.

Mooney is also currently wanted on two warrants in New South Wales, the court heard.

The police prosecutor objected to Mooney's bail application due to his history and the "level of deception he'll go to to avoid capture."

Mooney's lawyer, Chris Anderson, said if granted bail, his client proposed to live at Curra with his partner, who was pregnant with their first child, and her two children from another relationship, who he helped care for when she was at work.

He said Mooney also had another child in New South Wales from a previous relationship.

Magistrate Maxine Baldwin denied Mooney's bail application and said the "great lengths" Mooney went to to avoid being caught meant he could be a risk of committing further offences or failing to appear.

Ms Baldwin transferred Mooney's charges to Caboolture Magistrates Court and adjourned the matter until August 31.

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