Crimes of Qld’s dodgy banking staff revealed: List

Banks go to great lengths to weed out people who might commit financial or serious crimes, but some inevitably slip through the cracks. We take a look at staff who have faced the courts.

An employee who commits serious crimes, particularly ripping off a bank or its customers, is a very bad look for any financial institution.

So it’s no surprise bosses go to great lengths to weed out potential bad apples.

Banks undertake police checks of the National Criminal Database.

The checks cover pending charges and offences, but “spent’’ charges (usually more than 10 years old) or offences where no conviction was recorded escape the net.

Banks and financial institutions are reluctant to disclose other methods, but there are standard procedures such as clear rules on who is responsible for each step of a transaction.

Most frauds are committed by first-time offenders, however, so inevitably some people will slip through the cracks.

We take a look at some who have faced the courts for fraud or other serious crimes.

Katrina Denise Sladden

KATRINA DENISE SLADDEN

The ex-Flinders Shire Council dual citizen of the year and mother of three was jailed in March for fraudulently taking more than $80,000 from a Parents and Friends committee.

Sladden, 50, used her position at ANZ bank to make 191 transactions from December, 2013 to May, 2018, transferring the money into her personal account, a court was told.

She was sentenced to three and a half years jail, suspended after six months.

Townsville District Court heard Sladden was a treasurer of the St Francis Parents and Friends Association in Hughenden, in northwest Queensland, but was not authorised to make the transactions.

She adjusted the account set-up by removing the two-to-sign requirement, using her bank position to do so, the court heard.

Suspicions were raised by other members of the executive committee when they discovered the changes at the end of 2017.

The court heard Sladden was a “battler” who defrauded the P&C to keep her head above water financially.

She repaid more than $64,000 to the P&F account between December, 2013 and May, 2018, but that still left the volunteer group almost $18,000 out of pocket.

Joshua John Lucey leaving the Supreme Court.

JOSHUA JOHN LUCEY

The bank manager’s career was over after revealed he was a bikie gang member.

He was involved in “violent” debt collecting and drug dealing, a court heard in 2018.

Lucey, 32, from Mt Cotton, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court in Brisbane to six charges including trafficking in ecstasy pills and supplying cocaine for the Rebels outlaw bikie gang.

Lucey admitted helping Bing Crosby Cosca Jnr to traffic in at least 7000 ecstasy pills between July 1 and September 27, 2014. Cosca Jnr was sentenced to 13 years’ jail.

He also admitted to supplying cocaine to Cosca, and using his position as the Logan chapter president of the Rebels bikie gang and Tweed Heads Sergeant at Arms to collect debts from addicts by “intimidating” them.

The court that Lucey had quit the Rebels bikie gang, and had served nine months in prison on remand between November, 2014 and August, 2015.

Justice Ann Lyons sentenced Lucey to a wholly-suspended five-year jail term after taking into account time served.

Andrew Stanley Bauer outside court.

ANDREW STANLEY BAUER

The Brisbane banker used his position at a Logan bank to forge a $23,000 cheque after he was driven to the wall by a failed investment in a restaurant, a court heard last year.

Bauer, 51, was being hounded by a family friend at the time to repay a personal loan, Beenleigh Magistrates Court heard.

The Parkinson resident, a former consultant with Suncorp Browns Plains who was employed as an insurance broker, was charged with three counts each of forgery and making a false entry in a record, and one count of uttering a forged document.

The married father’s Toowoomba restaurant, Platform 9, which he opened in 2010, went into liquidation, the court was told.

He moved to Brisbane in 2014 for a new start, landing a job at Suncorp in 2017.

Shortly after, he was declared bankrupt and obtained a $22,000 loan from a family friend in order to stave off repossession of his home and car.

After trying to access his superannuation to pay the loan he entered false information into an internal Suncorp system in order to print a cheque, the court heard.

He intended to print only one cheque, but mistakes he made meant it was only on his third attempt he was successful, leading to the three counts each of forgery and making a false entry in a record.

He was later fired.

Bauer, who had no criminal history before the offending was given a 12-month suspended sentence.

AMANDA LOUISE JAMES

In 2017 the former Heritage Bank employee was jailed for seven years for systematically stealing money from the Toowoomba-based business over a 10 year period.

A court heard the Kingsthorpe woman started misappropriating bank funds just two months after landing a job as a 21-year-old, in 2005.

Using her knowledge as a bank services officer, she had set up six accounts in the names of various members of her family into which she had transferred funds from a range of the bank’s own general ledger accounts, Toowoomba District Court heard.

Crown prosecutor Shontelle Petrie said in the 10 years and seven months of offending, James made 1660 transactions totalling more than $656,000.

The money appeared to have been spent on household items and at least one trip to America, in 2007.

The 33-year-old mother of three pleaded guilty two counts of fraud as an employee.

She became eligible to apply for parole in July, 2019.

ANNETTE MARIE GRANIC

The bank officer ripped off almost $130,000 over five years, spending most of the Credit Union Australia money buying products advertised on TV shopping channels, a court heard last year.

Granic, 44, who worked for CUA for 16 years, was unable to repay any of the money.

She pleaded guilty in Brisbane District Court to the frauds, between January, 2014 and March last year.

She also pleaded guilty to a charge of computer hacking to gain a benefit.

The court heard Granic was a highly trusted employee who had worked her way up to operations officer, with responsibility for reconciliation of ledgers.

Granic used unwitting staff to divert money belonging to her employer between accounts, taking “substantial and significant steps’’ to cover transactions to avoid detection, the court heard.

Defence counsel Liam Dollar said Granic, who would not park in a wrong space or pinch a supermarket grape, still questioned how she could have done something so much worse.

He said she had been under stress at work and also had to care for a partner of 17 years.

Granic was sentenced to four years’ jail, suspended after 12 months.

RICKY DAVID GILLESPIE

In 2018 the disgraced Gold Coast bizoid was hit with a tougher sentence for ripping off clients over a two and a half year period.

The Australian Securities Investment Commission successfully appealed Gillespie’s original sentence on the grounds it was not harsh enough.

The former Broadbeach Commonwealth Bank financial planner received a $3000 fine in Brisbane Magistrates Court and no conviction was recorded after he plead guilty to forging 33 documents.

CBA discovered that he had forged signatures to improperly obtain commissions and trailing fees, altered dates and overcharged many of his 57 clients in the Broadbeach office, the court heard.

Gillespie argued that a conviction should not be recorded because ASIC had already given a life ban from working as a financial planner by ASIC in 2012.

Also, that the life ban would be revealed by a Google search by any future employer.

But District Court Judge Jennifer Rosengren set aside the sentence imposed and recorded a conviction against Ricky David Gillespie.

“A strong message needs to be sent to those who engage in similar conduct that they will be apprehended, and they will be punished to the full extent of the law,” she said.

PATRICIA DAWN JOHNSON

The Biloela bank teller “preyed on’’ vulnerable customers and stole more than $158,000 from elderly peoples’ accounts, Rockhampton District Court was told in 2016.

She was sentenced to almost five years’s jail after pleading guilty to one count of fraud.

The court heard ANZ Bank investigators caught her out in May, 2014 after 13 months of offending.

The 48-year-old made 26 fraudulent transactions ranging between $1500 and $60,000 from five accounts to the value of $227,300, between April, 2013 and May, 2014.

Crown prosecutor Ryder Reid told the court Johnson returned $69,000.

He said some of the customers she targeted were disabled, widowed and elderly and she redirected statements as to avoid detection.

Other accounts were used to deposit customers’ pensions.

The court heard the offending came to light when a 74-year-old customer inquired with the bank about his statements and was told his account balance was only $443, when he expected it to be $107,000.

Defence solicitor Marie Willey said Johnson had been employed in the banking industry for 25 years.

“She saw an opportunity however she didn’t live a lavish lifestyle as a result of the offending,” she said.

“It was used for day-to-day matters and general living expenses, there were no holidays or boats or lavish expenditure on her behalf.”

The victims’ money has since been returned.

Originally published as Crimes of Qld’s dodgy banking staff revealed: List