Ricquelle Marston-McKnight jailed for spending $25k stolen from KLM Melbourne

A young mother “desperate for money” spent almost half of the $62,000 she illegally gained from a Victorian conveyancing business.

A single mother has been jailed for spending more than $25,000 in stolen funds she gained from online banking fraud.

Ricquelle Marston-McKnight, 25, appeared in court on Wednesday via video link after pleading guilty to dealing with the property proceeds of a crime amounting to $62,000.

The Goulburn resident was previously sentenced to 15 months in jail for her role in using online banking to defraud the $62,000 from a Melbourne conveyancing firm. The charges before the court this week related to Marston-McKnight’s handling and use of the funds.

Ricquelle Marston-McKnight appeared in Goulburn Local Court after pleading guilty to handling $60,000 which was proceeds of a crime. Picture: Facebook

Court documents show Marston-McKnight was involved in diverting an email intended for the conveyancing company which contained the bank details of a client in September 2018. Documents show she sent through her own bank account instead and received a payment of more than $62,000.

The single mother told police she had been contacted by a man calling himself Dwayne Meyer, who had offered her an online job.

Court documents show he instructed her to send him the details of her bank account, into which he would deposit a large sum of money. He told her to keep a portion for herself and to transfer the bulk of the funds into an account in his name, according to police facts.

Her lawyer, Rodney Boyd, told the court Marston-McKnight had been broke and unemployed at the time.

“She was in many ways a victim in relation to this incident,” he said.

“She answered a job ad, desperate for money.”

When the money arrived in her account, the court heard Marston-McKnight used almost $9000 of it to pay off overdue gas and electricity bills. In total, the court heard she spent more than $22,500 of the stolen funds.

Mr Boyd told the court his client was not blameless.

“There is a role she has played in this,” he said.

“She spent some of this money as well.”

The police prosecutor said there was a need for deterrence given the ubiquity of online banking offences.

Ricquelle Marston-McKnight appeared via AVL in Goulburn Local Court in her prison greens. Picture: James Lane

Magistrate Geraldine Beattie agreed the prevalence of online banking increased the impact of the offence on the community.

“People rely on electronic banking as part of their everyday lives and their business lives,” she said.

Magistrate Beattie noted the “significant sum of money” defrauded from the company and the large amount used by Marston-McKnight.

The court heard the Goulburn resident had a very difficult childhood in foster care which was marred by abuse.

Magistrate Beattie determined there were special circumstances due to mental health issues. She sentenced Marston-McKnight to nine months in prison and ordered her to repay the $22,500 in stolen funds.