Young Kingaroy man pleads guilty to 40 counts of fraud, drug charges

A young Burnett man who took $11,000 from his father’s bank account has been convicted of 40 counts of fraud.

Mark Warren pleaded guilty in Nanango Magistrates Court on Monday to 40 counts of fraud.

A young Kingaroy man took more than $11,000 from his father’s bank account to fund his drug addiction, a court has heard.

Mark Ronald Warren, 27, pleaded guilty in Nanango Magistrates Court on Monday to 40 counts of fraud, committed between January and March, 2021 where he transferred money from his father's bank account into his own.

“The victim did not give the defendant any permission to make those transactions,” the prosecutor said.

Warren also pleaded guilty to possessing dangerous drugs and possessing utensils or pipes.

The court heard his father left the family home when Warren was three years old but reconnected with his son in later years.

“He was contacted by his father to say he wanted to move up to Bribie to buy a home and renew the relationship,” Warren’s solicitor told the court.

Mark Warren pleaded guilty in Nanango Magistrates Court on Monday to 40 counts of fraud.

Warren helped his father look for a home and eventually found one in Bribie Island which his father purchased.

Before the settlement was finalised, his father stayed with him and his mother, the court heard.

“It all went pear-shaped the first night; he came around with a case of beer and was already intoxicated,” Warren’s solicitor said.

“My client discovered that the father is a chronic alcoholic and from that moment it was a rather fraught relationship.”

After eventually moving into his Bribie Island home, Warren’s father was seriously assaulted and hospitalised, the court was told.

Warren helped take care of him and assisted in opening up a new bank account for him, the court was told.

“He had access to that account for a number of years, he didn’t dip into that account for some years until he himself found himself in some financial difficulty,” his solicitor said.

Warren initially reached out to his dad for financial support but was declined. It was after that when he began transferring money from his father’s account into his own.

Mark Warren stole $11,000 from alcoholic father to fund meth addiction, a court heard.

“He was … heavily into methamphetamine abuse, he was on a downward spiral,” the solicitor said.

“He used the money to support that habit in that very short period of time … he regrets that, he looks back with shame.

“Since that time he has got his life well and truly back on track … except for his occasional cannabis abuse.”

The court heard during a traffic stop on November 12, 2023, police searched a car Warren was a passenger in and found Warren in possession of 42 grams of cannabis and a glass pipe. Warren pleaded guilty to both drug charges.

The court heard Warren is eligible for medicinal cannabis and is seeking approval for the program as he suffers from anxiety from past childhood trauma.

“He has made significant attempts to rehabilitate himself over the last few years,” his solicitor said.

The court heard he was employed full time at a stockyard in Kingaroy.

Magistrate Andrew Sinclair ordered Warren to pay restitution of $11,196 and placed him on 12 months’ probation.