Amy Louise Taylor pleads guilty to 3 counts of forgery

A woman with “basic computer skills” has been caught using Microsoft Word to forge medical certificates for her friends in an attempt to excuse them from work and court.

Amy Louise Taylor, 38, faced the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Monday, November 28, 2022.

A Brisbane woman who once tried to have a friend take the rap for her speeding tickets has been caught forging medical certificates using Microsoft Word.

Amy Louise Taylor, 38, faced the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Monday, November 28 and pleaded guilty to forging medical certificates for other people on three occasions.

The court heard the woman, who was previously sentenced for trying to have a friend take the blame for her speeding tickets, had her scheme uncovered in May last year when police conducted a search warrant at her home.

Prosecutor Sergeant Scott Pearson said Taylor’s phone was seized during the search and its contents were downloaded, revealing a number of documents which appeared to be fraudulent.

One such document included something that looked like a medical certificate, but had been created on Microsoft Word.

It stated a woman, who was later identified as being a close associate of Taylor, would be unfit for work and should be excused from court due to illness.

A second forged medical certificate stated another person, a man, would also be unfit for work for a period of time.

A third document — a letter which had ostensibly been signed off by a dentist — recommended a third person, a woman, receive $49,000 worth of dental work.

Amy Louise Taylor, 38, leaving the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Monday, November 28.

It is understood letters such as this may be issued by a doctor so a person can receive a superannuation cash payout.

But the doctor whose signature was at the bottom of the third document confirmed he did not issue a letter to the woman.

Taylor later told police she forged the documents for her friends as she had “basic computer skills”.

She claimed she did not know what they intended to use the medical certificates for.

Her lawyer Ngarangi Rangihuna said she was using drugs when she offended but had since ‘made steps’ away from them.

The court was provided with urine test results from October and November this year as evidence.

Magistrate Judith Daley took into account Taylor’s pleas of guilty, and that her offending was of the “same flavour” of her previous crimes, when deciding an appropriate penalty.

She also noted Taylor had been on parole for about 17 months yet had not committed further offending.

Taylor was sentenced to four months’ imprisonment for each of the three offences with immediate parole release.