Serial fraudster, thief handed prison sentence for string of serious offending

Heavy substance abuse caused a Townsville concreter’s meltdown – landing him with a prison sentence for drug, fraud and stealing offences.

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WHEN a Townsville man picked up a credit card off a servo floor, instead of handing it to the attendant he went on a spending spree racking up almost $400 in purchases.

Clinton Paul Green, 38, was handed a term of imprisonment for a spree of offending after he pleaded guilty in the Townsville Magistrates Court to 23 charges.

The string of offences included 11 counts of fraud, two counts of stealing, one count of receiving tainted property, three counts of possessing dangerous drugs, three counts of driving while drunk, one count of possessing a used pipe and one count of possessing property used in the commission of a drug offence.

Police prosecutor Anita Page said Green was intercepted by police officers on multiple occasions driving while drunk.

On August 15, 2020, he blew 0.078 before he was busted on September 29 at 0.137.

Less than a month later on October 17 he was caught driving at excessive speed through The Strand and blew a reading of 0.067.

Police found a sandwich bag of “green leafy material” in his lap, which was identified to be cannabis, weighing in at 50 grams.

He also had in his glovebox a pair of scissors that had been used.

On the same day, police raided Green’s property at North Ward and found an additional three-and-a-half grams of weed inside, cannabis plants growing in his front yard, numerous bongs in his bedroom and another three-and-a-half grams of cannabis in his car.

His string of fraud offending commenced on August 31 when he used a credit card he picked up off a service station floor to rack up a series of transactions to the value of almost $400.

Green also drove out of the Caltex servo at Railway Estate without paying for $67 of fuel.

His offending did not end there though when he broke into a caravan park’s bistro and went through the restaurant to the office and took a bag containing all the keys to the park and fled on foot before he was arrested.

Green’s lawyer Richard Scholl said his client was a concreter by trade.

Mr Scholl said the father-of-two had battled with alcohol and illicit substances throughout his life and was “using quite heavily between August and January”.

“This effectively led him to have a meltdown,” Mr Scholl said.

The court heard Green had previously received counselling in relation to a heroin addiction. Magistrate Viviana Keegan said most of Green’s offending warranted a term of imprisonment.

For the dishonesty offences Green was sentenced to three months imprisonment.

He was further sentenced to one month for possessing and producing dangerous drugs.

For the three drink driving offences, Green was convicted and fined $1000 and sentenced to one month imprisonment and disqualified from holding a licence for 15 months.

He was convicted and not further punished for possessing tainted property.

The prison sentences were suspended for 12 months.

Originally published as Serial fraudster, thief handed prison sentence for string of serious offending